LONDON (Financial Times) - The United Kingdom could face planned power cuts to homes and businesses this winter if it is unable to import electricity from Europe and it struggles to attract enough gas imports to fuel its gas-fired power plants, the British National Grid has warned.
The prospect of power cuts comes as Prime Minister Liz Truss on Thursday wrote an op-ed in the Times newspaper calling on Europe to keep energy exports flowing during the winter, and is likely to heap further pressure on the government after she previously ruled out energy rationing in the UK.
Countries across Europe are drawing up winter contingency plans against the disruption of flows of gas from Russia because of the war in Ukraine, which could lead to rationing and a curb in exports of energy to other countries.
A shortage of gas in Europe, as well as maintenance issues with several French nuclear power plants, have raised the risk the UK could be unable to secure the gas it needs or the imports of electricity it typically receives from countries such as France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
“In the unlikely event we were in this situation, it would mean that some customers could be without power for pre-defined periods during a day – generally this is assumed to be for 3 hour blocks,” the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) said in its Winter Outlook on Thursday.
Russia has slashed its gas supplies to Europe this year and while Russia meets only about 4 percent of Britain’s gas needs, a disruption in supply to Europe has contributed to driving up British prices and makes it harder for the UK to secure gas from others.
“The potential for a shortfall in gas supplies within continental Europe could have a range of knock-on impacts in Great Britain, creating risks around the ability of GB to import from continental Europe,” the National Grid’s Gas Transmission (NGGT) arm said in a separate Gas Winter Outlook.