By James Simons-
National Grid has expressed concern that the UK will not have enough gas to meet demand on Thursday, as temperatures plummeted and imports were hit by outages.
The government said households should not notice any disruption to their supply or any increase in energy bills because suppliers such as British Gas buy energy in advance. Experts believe the chances of interruptions to their gas supply.
It is the first time such an alert has been issued since 2010.
National Grid’s forecast for the day initially showed a shortfall across the day of 49.5m cubic metres (mcm) below the country’s projected need of 395.7mcm. The gas deficit warning aims to fill that gap, which has since narrowed to 36mcm.
“We are in communication with industry partners and are closely monitoring the situation,” the company said.
TEMPERATURES
Widespread snow and temperatures of -7.8C resulting from the “Beast from the East” and Storm Emma have led to consumers to fire up their heating. Public health authorities recommend an indoor temperature of 18C.
As a result gas demand is at a five-year high, according to market watchers S&P Global Platts. Simon Wood, a gas analyst at the group, said: “There’s a strong chance you’ll see some interruptions for industrial users to balance the system.” Big energy users such as car manufacturers have supply contracts which can be interrupted in return for lower prices.