By Paul Homewood
Last year, it was reported that the ECJ had blocked the UK’s Capacity Market mechanism on the basis that it constituted illegal state aid.
The decision in fact was not against the UK per se, but against the EU Commission, which, according to the ECJ, had failed to launch a proper investigation into the UK’s capacity market when it cleared the scheme for state aid approval in 2014.
The ball is now back in the Commission’s court to either challenge or do a proper investigation.
In the meantime though, a tiny outfit called Tempus Energy has launched new legal action against the BEIS, to cancel the Capacity Market in its tracks.
From The Energyst:
Tempus has launched legal action intended to force the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to cancel a planned Capacity Market auction that would ‘top up’ capacity levels for next year’s winter (so-called ‘T -1′ auction) and return payments made relating to two auctions held in 2016 and 2017.
In a claim for judicial review against BEIS, Tempus argues that under State Aid laws BEIS cannot operate the Capacity Market while it waits for State Aid approval to be reconsidered. Tempus wants UK courts to order BEIS to recoup payments made under the Transitional Arrangements auctions (held in January 2016 and March 2017) as these were made under the annulled State Aid approval. Tempus also wants the court to halt the replacement T-1 auction planned for this summer and stop BEIS from enforcing existing capacity agreements during the standstill period.
Tempus Energy CEO, Sara Bell
In a blog post, Tempus chief executive Sara Bell said, “The ruling in November created a ‘standstill period’ on the Capacity Market, and during this standstill the UK government has a legal duty to stop the scheme and recover the subsidies (aid) already paid out.” She added, “Payments currently being relied on by the fossil fuel industry are unlawful and will never be made. Investors should take separate legal advice and not rely on statements from the government.”
BEIS said payments related to the Supplementary Capacity Auction held in January 2017 are unaffected as the State aid approval for these has not been annulled.
The business department said, “We will robustly defend this challenge. We continue to believe in the Capacity Market as a mechanism for guaranteeing security of supply and that it was right for the European Commission to approve our State aid notification for the scheme in 2014. We welcome the Commission appealing the Court’s judgment – an appeal in which the UK is intervening to support the Commission.
“We remain confident in the steps we are taking to reinstate the Capacity Market and operate the scheme to the fullest extent possible during the standstill period (within State aid constraints). The actions we have taken are in accordance with the UK’s standstill obligations imposed by the judgment. We have been in frequent contact with the European Commission to discuss the measures we have taken during the standstill period, including rescheduling the T-1 auction and deferred payments.”
As part of the judicial review process, Tempus will serve its claim on all current capacity agreement holders and those capacity providers that received payments under the Transitional Arrangements auctions, as they are directly affected parties.
https://theenergyst.com/tempus-launches-fresh-capacity-market-action-goes-money/
It was Tempus who started the original challenge to the ECJ back in 2014 and they have some dodgy characters on board.
According to their website:
We are revolutionising electricity systems with our unique software that unlocks demand flexibility in connected customers.
Our technology uses AI and smart algorithms to control and optimise when flexible assets use energy. By predicting volatility in carbon intensity and market prices we allow customers to reduce their energy costs – while simultaneously enhancing their use of renewables.
In other words, they want to make money out of a power grid that is inherently unstable. In contrast, there would be no demand for their products with a grid that could reliably supply power as and when needed – in other words, what we have been used to.
Everybody wants to make money, but it gets much worse when you see who is behind all of this.
Sarah Bell is CEO and founder, and Tempus give her profile:
Sara founded Tempus Energy in 2012. Her background combines a financial markets systems risk career with energy system innovation. She is a Director of the Association of Decentralised Energy, a member of the High Level Group of i24C, the Industrial Innovation for Competitiveness initiative, a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for Energy for the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council and an Innovation Ambassador for Innovate UK.
Although she no doubt has some bright ideas, she also clearly has a bee in her bonnet about decentralising energy.
Non exec director is Molly Webb:
Molly has 10+ years of market acceleration and advocacy for global innovation in tech, climate change, smart cities and energy, working in partnership with companies and cities at The Climate Group and multiple UK think tank demos. She is also a Green Innovation Strategy adviser for Skype-founder’s Zennström Philanthropies; a jury member for numerous cleanweb and cleantech awards; and she holds MSc in Environmental Policy from the London School of Economics.
To which all I can say is – heaven help us all.
The third member of the team is banker, Garry Sharp.
The Advisory Board is no better.
One member is Dimitri Zenghelis. According to his profile:
Dimitri Zenghelis is Co-Head Policy at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics. In 2014 he was Acting Chief Economist for the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate. While he headed the Stern Review Team at the Office of Climate Change in London, he was one of the authors of the Stern Review report on the Economics of Climate Change
Am I the only one to worry, when I see links with Grantham and Stern?
Also on the Board is Bryony Worthington, who did her best to wreck the UK, when she wrote the Climate Change Act for Ed Miliband.
Quite why we should trust any of this lot to have the best interests of the UK at heart is a mystery.
Tempus’ own blog account of the latest appeal makes clear the real reason for their action:
They have zero interest in energy security or consumers, only their extremist views on climate.
To even mention the fraudulent report about spending over €12 billion per annum on fossil fuel subsidies, proves how dishonest and untrustworthy they are. The link they give is to the Guardian report, which clearly states “A significant part of the UK fossil fuel subsidies identified by the commission is the 5% rate of VAT on domestic gas and electricity, cut from the standard 20%”.
While Tempus play silly semantic games, they are evidently also keen to see ordinary householders’ energy bills rising by 15%.
There is one further question. Who actually paid for this legal action to be taken in the first place?
When the action started in 2014, Tempus was little more than a year old. According to its Annual Accounts, it still has little in the way of tangible assets.
It is unbelievable that Tempus would have committed to a legal case at that time, that could potentially cost tens, and maybe even hundreds, of thousands of pounds.
Which begs the question – who put them up to it?
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March 7, 2019 at 12:30PM
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