Call for power shake-up

THE electricity regulator yesterday called for a sweeping overhaul of trading arrangements in the electricity pool in a bid to make the power market more competitive.

Professor Stephen Littlechild, director general of Offer, said the current system whereby generators bid their power stations into the pool 24 hours in advance with the price set by the cost of the last station should be abandoned.

Instead he recommended fresh arrangements more in line with other competitive energy and commodity markets.

The proposals include arrangements to allow both generators and customers to bid prices into the pool between 24 and four hours in advance, a forward market and settlement process.

Professor Littlechild also called for an overhaul of the way the pool is governed to give customer bodies a greater say in its operation.