U.K. to Investigate Power Firms Bidding in Balancing Market

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. energy regulator Ofgem is probing two power companies over whether bids to keep the nation’s grid stable were too high. 

The watchdog is investigating units of SSE Plc and EP U.K. Investments Ltd. over claims that bids to curb output at their plants were “excessively expensive,” the regulator said in a statement on Monday. 

The investigation is focusing on one corner of the nation’s electricity industry which the grid operator uses to fine-tune supply and demand. As the share of intermittent renewable energy increases, the market for balancing becomes even more important. 

“As this is an open investigation we have no comment to make at this stage,” a spokesperson for EP said by email. 

“As a responsible operator of generating assets, SSE will be complying fully with the investigation,” a spokesperson for SSE said.

National Grid spent 183.8 million pounds ($250 million) to balance the grid in August, the most since November 2020 and expected the bill will be even higher for September. Those costs ultimately fall to the consumers.

For EP, Ofgem is focusing on bids made between October 2019 and May 2021, when the company regularly submitted bids that were particularly expensive for a gas-fired power station, Ofgem said.

The SSE investigation covers a period from May 2020, when its Foyers pumped storage power station began submitting bids to turn down generation that were “significantly more expensive” than those made in the past, the regulator said. 

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