Energy Risks

Uncertain but not unimaginable -

Investment failure fails customers

25 February 2009

Download the full Whitepaper Investment failure fails customers

The new Energy & Climate Change Committee will be taking oral evidence from the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Rt Hon Edward Miliband MP, in the House of Commons, in London on the 25th February 2009.  The independent Global Energy Advisory White Paper entitled: Investment Failure, Fails Customers, was circulated to the Committee in advance of this important meeting.

The paper discusses factors affecting UK energy security and also asks pertinent questions regarding the costs and consequences of the energy investment decisions being taken at the current time.


For example are there unnecessary hidden costs being passed to the UK consumer as a consequence of energy firms taking the decision not to comply more of their coal plants with LCPD?

What is the long term wholesale trading health of the current energy companies? End consumers have a right to know: in the current credit crisis, trading is short-term, so the potential costs of volatile energy prices, bad trading decisions and supplier failure, in the future, could be passed on to end customers, thus adding to their energy price burden.

As we mentioned in the paper, the local risks to security of supply are well understood and a concern within the industry. However, it’s our concern that there are such a diversity of investment costs and numerous financial consequences of current risks to energy security that in reality, the companies and markets in which we all are relying to make informed investment decisions might fail themselves as well as end consumers.

Please download the full paper here Investment Failure, Fails Customers.