Expertise / Energy & Power
Energy expert witnesses
Commercial and technical evidence for energy, power and utilities disputes.
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Energy disputes turn on contracts written for a market that has since moved. Long-term supply agreements, price indexation, grid connection and plant performance all generate claims where the tribunal needs someone who has actually traded, built or run the asset. We work with experts drawn from the operating side of the industry, not only from consultancy.
In energy & power, the difference between a strong case and a weak one often comes down to whether the expert truly understands the sector. Generalist opinion rarely survives scrutiny on specialist questions, and a tribunal gives little weight to evidence that misreads how energy & power actually works. We focus here precisely because the issues are technical, the stakes are high, and the wrong expert is an expensive mistake.
What instructing through us looks like
Tell us the issues, the forum and your timeline. We check fit, availability and conflicts, then send a short, honest shortlist. You review CVs and speak with the expert before instructing. New to the process? See our guide on how to instruct an expert witness.
Enquire
Tell us about your energy & power matter
Describe the issues and the forum. We check fit, availability and conflicts, then come back with a short shortlist. Enquiries are confidential and create no obligation.
- Tell us the matterShare the issues, the sector and your timeline. No obligation, treated in confidence.
- We shortlistWe identify experts whose experience genuinely fits, and check availability and conflicts.
- You instructYou review CVs and speak directly with the expert before instructing on your terms.
What these disputes actually turn on
Energy disputes are usually contractual arguments about a market that has moved. Long-term supply agreements written against one set of assumptions end up operating in another, and the dispute is whether the contract's own mechanism captures that change. A price review turns on whether the trigger has been met and what the market evidence shows, not on whether the current price feels wrong. A take-or-pay claim turns on volume flexibility actually granted. A plant performance claim turns on what the guarantee promised, how the test was conducted, and what operating regime the unit was actually run under.
The distinction that matters most when choosing an expert is between people who have operated or traded and people who have advised. On price review and trading conduct, a tribunal gives weight to someone who has signed the deals and carried the risk. On plant performance it gives weight to an engineer who has run or commissioned the class of unit in question. Sector-adjacent consultancy experience is rarely enough on its own.
What the expert will examine, and what degrades first
Energy evidence is less perishable than marine, but the operational data that decides performance claims has real retention limits and is frequently lost in asset sales or system migrations.
- Historian and SCADA data — often retained only 12 to 24 months at full resolution before being downsampled or purged. This decides availability and degradation arguments.
- Performance test reports and commissioning records — the baseline against which any guarantee claim is measured.
- Outage logs, alarm history and maintenance records — distinguishing forced outage from operator error from genuine defect.
- Nominations, confirmations and trade tickets — what was actually contracted for and delivered, as opposed to what the parties now recall.
- Index publications and price assessments as published at the time — later revisions and restatements are a recurring trap in price review.
- Grid operator instructions and curtailment notices — central to renewables offtake and connection disputes.
On price review in particular, the evidential window is contractual rather than practical: the clause usually defines both the review period and the comparator set. Instructing after that window has closed narrows the argument considerably.
What the report has to address
The framework depends on the claim. Performance disputes are argued against the contractual guarantee and the test code it references, commonly ASME PTC or the equivalent specified in the EPC contract, and against the agreed correction curves. Availability claims are argued against the O&M agreement's own definitions, which frequently differ from industry convention. Price review is argued against the clause's trigger wording and the market evidence admissible under it. Grid and curtailment disputes are argued against the connection agreement and the applicable grid code.
Most significant energy disputes are arbitrated under ICC or LCIA rules, often with quantum as the largest single issue. An expert who can set out a counterfactual explicitly — what would have happened absent the breach, and why — is worth considerably more than one who presents a model without exposing its assumptions.
Five questions worth asking before you instruct
- Have they traded or operated in this market, or only advised on it?
- Do they know the specific index, hub or grid regime in dispute, rather than the commodity in general?
- Have they given evidence in a price review arbitration, and on which side?
- Can they build and defend the counterfactual, or will you need a separate quantum expert alongside them?
- Who else in this market have they acted for? The counterparty set is small and conflicts surface late.
Why energy evidence gets discounted
The commonest failure is an expert who analyses the economics persuasively but never engages with the contractual trigger, leaving the tribunal with an interesting market opinion and no route to a finding. The second is analysis pitched at the wrong market — a national benchmark where the contract references a regional hub, or a current index where the contract fixes the comparator at the review date. The third is a performance opinion that ignores how the plant was actually despatched, which is usually the first thing the other side's expert will raise.
The disciplines, and when each is needed
- Energy trader or market expert — trading conduct, hedging, market evidence in price review, and whether a contracted price still reflects the market.
- Power plant and performance engineer — output, heat rate and availability guarantees, performance testing and the operating regime actually used.
- Grid and network engineer — connection, curtailment, constraint payments and compliance with the grid code.
- Renewables technical expert — wind and solar yield, availability, component failure and warranty claims.
- Regulatory economist — market rules, price controls, licence conditions and regulatory decisions.
- Quantum and valuation expert — lost revenue, the counterfactual and the value of the asset or contract.
On a price review or performance dispute the technical expert and the quantum expert must agree the counterfactual between them before either report is finalised. Where they work from different assumptions, the tribunal is invited to pick one model and discard the other, usually to the detriment of the party that instructed both.
Where these disputes are decided
Long-term supply, offtake and EPC disputes are mostly arbitrated under ICC or LCIA rules. Construction of energy assets reaches the Technology and Construction Court. Some price review clauses send the question to expert determination rather than arbitration, which changes the expert's role entirely: a determining expert decides the issue rather than assisting a tribunal. Regulatory disputes engage Ofgem's own processes and, on appeal, the Competition and Markets Authority. Each needs to be identified before an expert is instructed, because the role and the duty differ.
Key authorities and further reading
- Ofgem — the GB energy regulator: licence conditions, price controls and decisions
- The Grid Code (NESO) — technical requirements for connection and operation
- ASME Performance Test Codes — the test standards most performance guarantees reference
- ICC Arbitration Rules 2021 — the most common rules for international energy disputes
- LCIA Arbitration Rules 2020 — London-seated international arbitration
- CPR Part 35: Experts and Assessors — the expert's overriding duty to the court
- Kennedy v Cordia (Services) LLP [2016] UKSC 6 — the Supreme Court on when expert evidence is admissible
Coverage
Areas we cover in energy & power
FAQ
Common questions
What does an Energy & Power expert witness do?
A Energy & Power expert witness gives independent, objective opinion to a court or tribunal on specialist issues within energy & power. The overriding duty is to the court, not to the instructing party. That opinion typically takes the form of a written report and, where required, oral evidence.
When should I instruct an Energy & Power expert?
As early as the issues become clear. Instructing early helps you weigh the strengths and weaknesses of a case, scope the evidence proportionately, and avoid a rushed report against a looming deadline.
How do you choose your Energy & Power experts?
We select on substance: relevant qualifications, genuine energy & power experience, and an understanding of an expert's duties in litigation and arbitration. Where an expert has limited experience of giving evidence, we say so.
Do you have experts who have actually traded energy?
Yes. Our energy panel includes people who have run supply businesses and traded physical and financial energy, rather than only advised on it. On price review and trading disputes that operating experience is usually what the tribunal finds persuasive.
Need an expert in energy & power?
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