Ofgem has opened in investigation into National Grid’s electricity transmission arm (NGET). The regulator said that it would examine whether NGET breached rules relating to its duty to operate the system in an economic and efficient manner. “This includes but is not limited to producing and publishing appropriate forecasts of demand.”
It added that opening an investigation did not imply that it had made any findings about non-compliance by NGET.
Last year Ofgem warned National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) that it must improve its IT and information services or it may undermine market confidence and suffer legal action. The regulator asked market participants to bring forward concerns about the system operator’s performance.
The immediate cause for the regulator’s warning was an investigation into a series of occasions between November 2015 and January 2016 when NGET published erroneous information about de-rated margin calculations. That led to false market signals in the wholesale electricity market that breached EU rules on market manipulation. After its Remit breach investigation Ofgem said: “This incident is one of several instances over the past year where we have observed NGET providing inadequate information, IT systems and processes. We consider these incidents to be below the standards we, and market participants, expect from the system operator.”
Further reading
Ofgem reiterates need for reliable market information as it publishes Remit data
The New Power Interview: Charlotte Ramsay, National Grid
Charlotte Ramsay is programme director, future role of the system operator, at National Grid. She talked about that future with New Power