Credit Assessment Price to remain at £380/MWh – update published 5 Jan 2022
The Credit Committee met on 29 December 2021 to review the Credit Assessment Price (CAP) due to be implemented on 18 January 2022. The Credit Committee decided not to propose a new CAP value. This means that the last notified CAP of £380/MWh due to go live on 7 January 2022 will remain in place.
Update impacting this decision
(Published: 5 January 2022)
Please note the last notified CAP value of £380/MWh will not go live on 7 January following a Credit Committee decision on 5 January 2022 to retain the current CAP of £305/MWh.
There is now a consultation (dated 5 January 2022) on increasing the Credit Assessment Price (CAP) to £340/MWh.
The Credit Assessment Price (CAP) is used in the Energy Indebtedness calculations to convert Credit Cover into an energy value. A change to CAP can impact the amount of Credit Cover required by a BSC Party.
When the CAP changes it may affect the amount of credit cover that suppliers and generators are required to lodge with us. For some Parties this may mean additional collateral needs to be lodged. We recommend monitoring your Indebtedness and Credit Cover Percentage calculations on the Elexon Portal to understand how this change may affect your Party. Go to:
- Elexon Portal > Financial and Credit > Credit / Credit Alerting > Party Energy Indebtedness
Alternative CAP Review Process
The Credit Committee are currently following the alternative CAP review process. This alternative process allows the Credit Committee to set a new CAP faster and base their assessment on a wider range of data sources. Please note this alternative process is outlined in the CAP Review Process Guidance.
Under the alternative CAP review process the Credit Committee meet every two weeks to review the latest data and, if necessary, propose a new CAP value. The next Credit Committee is due to take place on 11 January 2022. However, the Credit Committee will review if an earlier meeting is required.
Rationale behind no change to the CAP value
The Credit Committee met on 29 December 2021 to consider an appropriate CAP for implementation on 18 January 2022. As the CAP is reviewed every two weeks, the proposed CAP would be live between 18 January 2022 and 27 January 2022 at a minimum.
The Credit Committee have been using ICIS Heren peak and base, power price assessments as the primary information to inform their decisions. The data that the committee were provided with is shown in the graphs below.
The Credit Committee considered the latest forward market prices for January 2022. The latest date with available data was 24 December 2021. For this date average forward market prices were at £424/MWh for January with latest peak Prices at £519/MWh and latest base prices at £330/MWh. The average price had rapidly decreased £315/MWh in three days from a high of £740/MWh on 21 December 2021. In addition, opening prices on 29 December 2021 for January 2022 were showing a further decrease.
The Credit Committee felt there was a large amount of uncertainty in the market as a result of the time of year, weather forecasts, market illiquidity and gas prices. As such, they decided not to consult on changing the most recent notified CAP value of £380/MWh. Instead, they will continue to monitor prices, and if necessary, meet next week before the next scheduled Credit Committee meeting on 11 January 2022.
The graphs below contain the data that was presented to the Credit Committee to help inform their decision. There are six graphs; you can move between the graphs by using the arrows at the bottom. There are also options to filter the data by using the buttons on the right-hand side of the graphs.
The Credit Committee are also investigating how an issue group could be raised to provide a more fundamental review of the Credit Cover arrangements.
Further guidance
If any Parties have questions or concerns about the CAP, please reach out to our team at [email protected]