[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Pierre

That is not reflected in our energy bills, and until it is they will be rightly looked upon sceptically.

They can be viewed sceptically, but not rightly. The price of electricity in the UK is based upon that electricity derived from gas.

Gas sets the price of electricity, because the electricity price in every half hour period is set by the marginal cost of the last generating unit to be turned off to meet demand – which is invariably a gas power plant with high marginal costs.

To provide an analogy, think of a penalty shootout in a sporting competition. A team will select a list of individuals in order of preference, with the best individuals selected first (i.e., renewables). But it’s the individual who steps up last who has the final say, deciding the fate of the result.

The problem we have at the moment is that whilst renewable capacity has grown significantly, natural gas is still responsible for 38% of our electricity generation in the UK.

When we have periods of low winds for example, the system will often turn to gas generators to fill that demand. But that comes at a high price, and even more so recently with the record prices on the wholesale gas market. As we move to a high renewable powered electricity system, it doesn’t make sense to have gas generators setting the price.

https://www.goodenergy.co.uk/blog/wh...ricity-prices/