Ofgem has imposed a £2.06 million fine on SSE for delays in publishing information on future generation capacity.
The government regulator for gas and electricity said the disclosure breach related to capacity at the Fiddler’s Ferry power station under SSE’s contract with National Grid could have had a ‘significant effect’ on wholesale electricity prices.
Under the Regulation on Wholesale Energy Market Integrity and Transparency (REMIT), entities must publish inside information which is likely to affect the price of wholesale energy in an effective and timely manner.
Ofgem noted the company had not acted in bad faith and said the fine sends a ‘strong message’ to other companies of the energy market.
Jonathan Brearley, Chief Executive at Ofgem, said: “SSE’s failure to publish inside information in a timely and effective manner resulted in market participants trading for four working days under a false impression of supply availability in GB’s electricity market.
“This meant that market participants were likely to have paid higher prices than they needed to and risked undermining confidence in the wholesale electricity market.”
Martin Pibworth, SSE’s Energy Director, said: “SSE takes its market disclosures extremely seriously and acted in good faith, publishing details of the ‘Black Start’ contract for Fiddlers Ferry power station once signed, in line with our interpretation of the REMIT regulations at the time.
“We subsequently understood that Ofgem’s interpretation required disclosure to the market at an earlier stage. We admit that our approach was not in line with this requirement.
“SSE did not benefit from disclosing only once the contract was signed and remains committed to clear and transparent rules for all market participants. We will be pressing regulatory authorities for additional guidance for market participants going forward.”
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