Team

Andrew has worked on numerous aspects of power and/or gas market reform throughout his consulting career. His most recent experience has focused on capacity market design and implementation, but he has also advised on the design of energy markets and ancillary service markets.

He has advised Governments, Regulators and energy companies, and his experience includes:

• Leading our team over four years in advising the Irish Regulatory Authorities in design and implementation of the ISEM Capacity Remuneration Mechanism, including throughout the successful transitional and T-4 auctions. Andrew continues to play a key role advising on policy development, as well as an operational role in assisting the regulators set unit specific price caps in the auctions;
• Supporting a GB energy retailer in relation to wholesale market power allegations in the context of the UK Competition and Markets Authority investigation into the GB power and gas market;
• Advising on various aspects of the GB FiT CfDs as part of the UK Electricity Market Reform Programme;
• Advising both the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC, now part of BEIS) and Ofgem on measures to promote liquidity in GB forward electricity markets, including work on developing proposals for mandatory market making and mandatory auctions;
• Advising ESB (the largest Irish utility) on the development of the design of the original Single Electricity Market (SEM), including the design of the Pool, and CfDs over a 2-year period. As well as advising ESB on the design of market arrangements, he advised them on the design of their hedging strategy;
• Member of a team monitoring DONG's Gas Release Programme (GRP), on behalf of the EC. In particular, he led the Valuation Team and reviewed valuations of swaps of gas swing deals between the Danish GTF hub and 5 other potential European gas hubs, and conducted impact assessments of the impact of the GRP on competition in the Danish wholesale and retail gas markets; and
• Advising on the design of regulated wholesale energy contracts.

Overall, he has worked on various elements of wholesale market design in UK, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Romania, Turkey and Singapore.

Andrew has advised numerous leading UK and Western European utilities, as well as global oil majors on trading and risk management issues. Over a long career, his energy trading and risk management clients have included: British Energy (now part of EDF), BP, EdF (EdF Group and UK), EdP Brazil, E.ON (E.ON Group and E.ON UK), Endesa, Enron Europe (in Administration), ESB (Ireland), Gazprom Marketing & Trading, Gaz de France (now part of Engie), National Grid (UK), Norsk Hydro, Nuon (Holland, now part of Vattenfall) and Scottish Power (now part of Iberdrola).

Examples of his key assignments include:

• Acting as Interim Global Head of Market Risk for Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T);
• Undertaking risk reviews for energy trading organisations and benchmarking risk management practices;
• Assisting a number of organisations to value non-standard electricity, natural gas and LNG contracts and/or assess the risk associated with the contracts. Contracts valued included hydro contracts with complex optionality, LNG off-take contracts, gas storage and gas swing contracts;
• Assisting Enron Europe realise value from its long-term structured contracts after entering administration by novating contracts;
• Setting up start-up energy trading organisations in Brazil, Singapore and Korea. These assignments included a wide variety of tasks, including:
• Developing the trading strategy and mandate;
• Advising on policies and procedures, including setting risk limits;
• Advising on resourcing requirements;
• Developing valuation (mark-to-market) models and VaR models;
• Developing other IT functional requirements; and
• Providing operational support during the start-up phase;
• Managing GM&T’s strategic Risk Department transformation programme, to develop its global Monte-Carlo VaR solution, as well as a suite of other market and credit models (e.g. CVaR, Potential Future Exposure models);
• Lead the non-IT workstreams of British Energy’s Commercial and Trading Development Programme over an 18 month period, provided deep trading risk management subject matter expertise including:
• Development of earnings and cashflow-at-risk models;
• Developing transfer prices between its generation, trading and retail business units to sharpen performance incentives; and
• Improving performance reporting; refining business processes; and identifying revised IT functional requirements.
• Supporting Ofgem and DECC (now BEIS) on key drivers of GB power market liquidity (such as collateral) and potential policy interventions to promote liquidity, such as mandatory market making or mandatory auctions.

Andrew has:

• Spent 12 months on secondment at Ofgem in the Distribution directorate, with, at various times, taking responsibility for gas distribution policy, independent networks and connections;
• Undertaken electricity tariff studies in Thailand and the Bahamas, setting tariffs through analysis of marginal costs for all parts of the electricity value chain (wholesale prices, bulk supply tariffs, transmission use of system charges, distribution use of system charges and retail tariffs); and
• Engaged as a member of a team advising the Government of Northern Ireland in their negotiations with British Gas over the drafting of a gas distribution and supply licence in the Greater Belfast area. Key roles and responsibilities included:
• Drafting the distribution price control conditions, including the structure of distribution tariffs;
• Advising on a rate of return commensurate with the project risks involved; and
• Advising an exclusivity conditions and a timetable for the development of competition.

Many of Andrew’s assignments have elements that relate to helping the electricity sector transition to the low carbon economy. For instance:

• Key elements of the design of the Irish Capacity Remunmeration Mechanism (CRM) have been designed to ensure that intermittent renewables and demand-side response can compete alongside thermal generation;
• Andrew has advised the regulators in Ireland and Northern Ireland on various aspects of their DS3 programme (delivering and secure sustainable electricity system);
• Andrew has assisted the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on various aspects of the UK Electricity Market Reform to put in place FiT CfDs for low carbon generators, including advising on the reference prices for intermittent renewables and baeload low carbon generators.

Andrew has played a significant role in the set-up or re-organisation of major energy trading companies, undertaken strategic reviews of energy trading divisions, and managed projects assisting new energy trading start-up ventures. Examples include:

• Over an 18-month period, Andrew led a number of workstreams within British Energy’s Commercial and Trading Development Programme. This involved redesigning responsibilities at the interface between its generation, trading and retail business units to sharpen performance incentives, improved performance reporting, refined business processes, and identified new IT functional requirements;
• Andrew was a member of the team engaged to help Scottish Power implement the concept of a Commercial and Trading hub. Andrew’s activities included:
• A comparative analysis of the strategies employed by leading utilities, with particular focus on merchant trading utilities;
• Defining terms for the transfer of positions between Generation and Trading and between Trading and Supply; and
• Design and implementation of performance measures for Scottish Power’s new Energy Trading Centre, including KPIs to be included in the Service Level Agreements.
• Part of a team that reviewed the business case for merging the separate oil, gas and power trading functions of a client and created the design for their integrated trading function. In addition, he advised on an improved performance measurement and more independent risk governance arrangements;
• Setting up start-up energy trading organisations in Brazil, Singapore and Korea. These assignments included a wide variety of tasks, including:
• Developing the trading strategy and mandate;
• Advising on policies and procedures, including setting risk limits;
• Advising on resourcing requirements;
• Developing valuation (mark-to-market) models and VaR models;
• Developing other IT functional requirements; and
• Providing operational support during the start-up phase.

Andrew has advised companies and investors in international power markets on their market entry strategy, wholesale and retail market arrangements, market price forecasts and valuation of assets. Examples include where Andrew:

• Managed a project to evaluate the strategy and business model of the energy trading business unit of a leading European utility;
• Reviewed and commented on the UK and Dutch market studies and projections that this overseas pension fund had conducted as part of their due diligence for a potential acquisition of UK and Dutch CCGTs;
• Reviewed and compared retail strategies of the utilities in the UK market since electricity and gas markets were liberalised, examining the comparative success of different product and pricing strategies;
• Led the risk due diligence in regard to a number of complex gas storage and LNG deals on behalf of a client;
• Led the Valuation Team, as part of the EC-mandated DONG Gas Release Programme (GRP), reviewing the valuations of swaps of gas swing deals between the Danish GTF hub and 5 other potential European gas hubs, in order to set auction reserve prices; and
• Assisted Verbund in valuing the flexibility / optionality embedded within Austrian power contracts.