The Electricity Settlements Company (ESC) has scrapped a potential supplementary mutualisation process and confirmed providers will be paid in full this month for the period the Capacity Market was suspended.
In December the ESC said almost £11 million would be recovered from across the supplier base because of unpaid bills relating to the standstill. A further mutualisation process for this month had been mooted.
However, a combination of recovery from operational suppliers and the fact that some capacity providers exited the market during the standstill has meant a supplementary mutualisation will no longer be required.
In total there were £1.1 billion of charges deferred during the nearly year-long suspension of the Capacity Market.
The non-payment register shows that just over £6 million remains unpaid from the eleven suppliers who ceased trading during the standstill. Seven operational suppliers– Breeze Energy, Enstroga, Euston Energy, Foxglove Energy Supply, Nabuh Energy, PFP Energy Supplies and Utility Point – are also shown to still be in arrears. They collectively owe more than £4.8 million.
George Pitt, interim chief financial officer at LCCC – which delivers the ESC services – said: “The Capacity Market restart was an unprecedented situation with no playbook for how it should go. It is therefore very heartening that the vast majority of the supply market has paid with so few issues, and we thank suppliers for their cooperation and partnership in this process, with over 99 per cent of invoiced funds collected before our first mutualisation.
“ESC is very pleased that we do not have to run a secondary mutualisation, and can therefore pay capacity providers in full this month for the standstill period.”
In a bulletin issued to stakeholders announcing the cancellation of the supplementary mutualisation, the ESC addressed the issue of continued non-payers. It said it was “continuing to work with those suppliers who have not fully paid their outstanding liability”. It added: “Any recovered amounts will be returned to suppliers who have paid a standstill mutualisation invoice, in accordance with the regulations.”