It is hard to continue delivering 1%/yr efficiency gains when your fixed cost base remains largely... fixed. That said, digitalisation and AI present opportunities. It does require Ofgem to fund programmes in that space, however.

New heat network standards will be a big story next year, leaseholders likely footing the bill. "Complying with these technical standards is going to be extremely expensive ... there are going to require a lot to be ripped out and completely replaced" buff.ly/IUfEMQV

The reports in Utility Week about the Energy Secretary positioning himself for as the 'next Chancellor' are notable for the number of supportive quotes by "allies" or "supporters" of Ed Miliband. buff.ly/tOtcfYT

Govt have written to suppliers to say they expect customers on fixed term deals will also benefit from RO / ECO changes in April next year. Link: buff.ly/xI14n2o

Murray Auchincloss is out as BP CEO, Meg O’Neill is in. Reuters article with reaction from investors here 👇 buff.ly/6ozkk3y

The Matched team have updated their clean power index to include nuclear. This means BG are now above Octopus for clean energy on this basis. buff.ly/NUzmX1y

This new grid data tool from Ben Watts is super-cool. Gas and elec prices, constraint costs, supply mix plus more. All real-time. Very good. 👇 buff.ly/aHinDNR

Shell's Head of M&A left his post earlier this year after failing to convince the CEO and CFO to buy BP, reports the FT - as per article below 👇

The INEOS ethylene plant at Grangemouth has been saved from closure after a government support deal was struck (£)

I think it's correct to argue that data centre demand growth will create more of a need for gas power generation in the short term. I also think it's correct to point to the barriers in building new gas power generation. It's neither quick nor cheap.

Energy suppliers called on to pass through the full reduction in energy policy costs to those on fixed term deals.

On demand-side connections, Ofgem received 80GW of connection requests in six months. Unprecedented. Connections queue paused for new connections. Question of what happens when unpaused. Tension between network capacity, build-out and support for growth.

At the opening of the Utility Week Forum and hear the first keynote speaker Lawrence Gosden of Southern Water has been delayed on stage because of a citizens arrest in the lobby downstairs 😮

SSE's proposal to extend the time developers have to hit milestones by the same number of days NESO delay connection offers is sensible. It's unfortunate, but also unrealistic to expect developers to take the hit from delays implementing reform.

NESO announce a delay of 'several months' to the release of the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan - the centre piece blueprint for the sector. May have impacts for the other strategic and regional plans - and for development of network capacity. Not good news.

This list of heat network projects in development, published today, shows the shift happening. Projects underway: largely air / water source heat pump, EfW, biomass... Projects cancelled: largely CHP...

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People would be shocked if they saw how many cyber threats UK energy utilities deal with on a daily basis. It's huge. The resources available are asymmetric, and a hacker only needs to win once. We need to fund cyber security properly.

Pilots. Trials. Feasibility studies. Then one morning, sensors detect a fault, AI reconfigures things to fix it and no engineer leaves the depot. The future stops being theoretical when it solves today's problems.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is well-intentioned but failing. Many homes will never be able to afford a heat pump. We means test benefits. But a £7.5k heat pump grant goes to anyone who can already bridge a £5.5k gap. It's not a sustainable vision of heat decarbonisation.

Ovo Energy see the CEO and CFO step down. Former CEO Chris Houghton lined up for a return. Eighteen months is barely enough time to understand the business. How much can really change? buff.ly/fFnDImm

Tomato Energy has ceased trading today. It had ~15k domestic customers and 8k non-domestic customers and had been the subject of a number of regulatory investigations, incl capital adequacy and liquidity. A new supplier for their customers will now be found.

Ofgem publishes framework for coordinating energy system digitalisation. Aims to align network investment with decarbonisation pathways. Whether new governance structures can accelerate decision-making remains to be seen.

Five EU countries logged 500+ hrs of negative electricity prices this year, driven by record solar output. Highlights need for storage and demand flexibility to capture value from abundant renewable generation. Success creates new challenges.

Dieter Helm argues British energy policy delivers neither cheap, secure nor home-grown energy. Points to system costs and import dependence despite renewable expansion. Challenges claims that transition automatically reduces bills or improves security.

SPower and Panasonic offer £1k heat pump discounts - plus £300 bill credits. Combines with £7.5k govt grants to improve upfront economics. Question remains whether bundled offers can shift demand at scale beyond early adopters.

NESO opens consultation on connecting 50GW offshore wind to the grid. x37 projects need transmission infrastructure. Scale requires coordinated planning rather than project-by-project connections. Infrastructure strategy now follows deployment ambition.

Govt plans to remove planning permission reqs for cross-pavement charging gullies, potentially saving drivers £250 in application fees. Could reduce charging fees for those without driveways to as low as 2p per mile vs public charging at 10x the cost.

NESO is calling on large businesses to participate in demand-side flexibility services. Supermarkets, airports and data centres can earn revenue by adjusting consumption to help balance the grid. A growing and unexplored opportunity.

China is building a 400km solar wall in the Kubuqi Desert with 100GW capacity to power Beijing. Elsewhere, floating solar and agrivoltaics are growing to reduce land use conflicts. Clean tech innovation at scale.

US sanctions are having an impact. Chinese refiners are cancelling Russian oil cargoes. Around 45% of Chinese imports from Russia have been affected, approximately 400,000 barrels daily. Sinopec and PetroChina have stopped orders to avoid penalties.

In a Telegraph editorial, the paper makes the argument that stopping renewables needn't expose us to volatile international fossil fuel markets, because we can still rely on North Sea oil and gas. The facts do not bear this out.

Guido Fawkes highlighting the lack of mention in the Carbon Budget delivery plan of the commitment to reduce bills by £300...

Energy Select Committee launches new inquiry on managing the future of UK oil and gas, details via the link 👇

Nuclear was supposed to be finished. Fukushima ended the dream. Cheap gas killed the economics. Google just signed a 25-year deal to power data centres with atoms. AI isn't just changing computing, it's starting to rewrite energy. buff.ly/xcZuKbq

Demolish the illusion that politics can stop technological inevitability. Solar costs down 90%. China produces 8 out of 10 panels. Renewables beat coal globally. The US can rage against clean energy or join it. But it cannot stop it. buff.ly/7daGg2O

In 2005, less than 5% of global emissions had a carbon price. Today it's 28%. The EU created the world's first carbon market. Now they're showing others. Climate diplomacy isn't about speeches. It's about the spreadsheets 🤓 buff.ly/9QxuGpH

Chair of the Energy Select Committee, Bill Esterson, goes in hard against Ofgem in an open letter over debt relief scheme, wants network company profits to be used to pay for debt. buff.ly/kXKKl0q

Wind power has saved the UK £104bn since 2010, according to new research from UCL. That's more than the £90bn extra we spent on gas following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 🧵

Does anyone know if this is correct? That's a huge number.

Clean fuel projects face mounting uncertainty after the IMO delayed its shipping decarbonisation framework. Several methanol and biofuel plants have already been cancelled or face challenges. Regional measures like the EU ETS may now expand further. buff.ly/NWZFYjq

The ECHR has acquitted Norway in a case over Arctic oil licences granted in 2016. Environmental groups Greenpeace and Nature & Youth argued the approvals violated climate obligations. The decision follows years of domestic legal challenges. buff.ly/KiIK2V9

Petrofac's administration underlines risks facing energy services firms caught between declining fossil fuel work and uncertain renewable contracts. The TenneT cancellation made restructuring unviable. Govt insists UK arm continues operating normally. buff.ly/SfUpKjE

"Humanity has failed on 1.5C rise - UN Chief"

The plans submitted ahead of #COP30 so far put us off course vs Paris 2C goals. A consequence of roll back of political ambition seen in places during the last two years. We may be entering the age where the tech needs to save us from the politics.

After he left the Bank of England, Mark Carney became a global leader in the fight against climate change. In particular he was central in mobilising global green finance. Now? There are questions over his stance. (£) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Warm Homes Plan delayed again (Utility Week), w/cross-departmental pushback on rental standards and Clean Energy Discount. Translation: DESNZ wants delivery; others want fiscal control. The real barrier isn't technology or money right now. It's govt agreeing with itself.

Octopus forecasts 20% rises from non-commodity costs - networks, renewables, balancing. We're funding a £250bn infrastructure program through a mechanism designed for steady-state operations. The investment is essential. The funding route creates a political trap.

Global carbon emissions from human activities and wildfires rose by a record amount last year, according to WMO.

Here's something interesting and for me, unexpected: global investment in climate tech companies is increasing again, already more in 2025 than there was for the whole of last year.