Market Stabilisation Charge dashboard

Last updated on 21/11/2022 17:00

At-a-glance summary

The Market Stabilisation Charge (MSC) temporarily requires all domestic suppliers acquiring a domestic customer to pay a charge to the losing supplier, when wholesale prices fall considerably below the relevant wholesale price cap index¹. The MSC is a temporary measure which came into effect on 14 April 2022 and, following the Decision on extending Short-Term Interventions and adjusting MSC calculation, is due to expire on 31 March 2023. This decision also sets out updates made to the MSC charge calculations to reflect how price cap indexation changed in response to the move to quarterly cap updates. This change means that terms published from 5 September are not directly comparable with terms published prior. 

For more information, please refer to the MSC guidance.

The MSC is a volumetric charge published weekly, split into two sub-charges; one for gas and one for electricity. The MSC is published after each Monday² and reflects wholesale prices across the five preceding working days. The first MSC level was published on 12 April 2022, coming into effect on 14 April 2022.

Statutory consultation on 25 November 2022

We have published a statutory consultation on 25 November on options to: 

• Extend the Market Stabilisation Charge (MSC) until 31 March 2024 
• Extend the Ban on Acquisition-Only Tariffs (BAT) until 31 March 2024 
• Allow the Authority to extend both measures further via written notice 

The consultation will be open for 4 weeks, closing on 23 December 2022.  

Has the charge been triggered?

What is the rate?

Key Calculated Values³:

Methodology and footnotes

1. As of 23 May 2022 the MSC will be initially triggered when the wholesale cost falls more than 10% lower than the wholesale cost element of the price cap. The MSC also includes a derating factor, currently set at 85%. This de-rating factor determines the proportion of nominal hedging losses beyond the trigger point that will be covered by the MSC.

2. When Monday is a public holiday, the updated charge value takes effect at 00:00 on the Thursday after the close of the preceding observation window. The previous charge remains in effect until the update takes place. See para 2.46 of the MSC guidance.

3. Where Wpc is the wholesale element of the Price Cap, Wc is the wholesale cost of energy and Wt is the Losing Supplier Loss Trigger as defined in section 2 of the MSC guidance.

Historic data