Electricity retail market issues

After many years of being talked about the widescale introduction of smart metering for residential energy consumers in Great Britain took at step closer to becoming a reality this month.

On November 5, the UK government presented an amendment to the Energy Bill at its third reading in the Lords which clarifies the legal powers needed to introduce smart meters and it seems that now the government has committed itself to installing smart meters in every home by 2020.

But, despite all of the visionary talk of smart metering roll-out, the electricity retail market has been facing more pressing problems of late. In the last few weeks, two UK electricity suppliers have recently gone out of business because of volatility in the electricity wholesale market.

Dr Dominic Maclaine asked the boss of a small new entrant supplier, which is pushing the smart metering model, about the challenges his company faces at the moment.

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Created: November 21, 2008