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Pretty much still that. Last winter/earlier this guest saw a huge spike in demand of LPG in Asia due to a cold winter in China and economic bounce back following various lockdowns in the region. This meant supplies were diverted there, and Europe (not just U.K.) weren’t able to refil their strategic suppliers leaving them at the lowest levels for many years. This has meant Europe hasn’t been able to help stabilise prices across the bloc by releasing supplies as required, and the U.K. is no exception.
Throw into that Russia playing politics with Nordsteam2 with Germany and they are simply fulfilling their existing contractual obligations whilst making a killing selling any extra to the highest global bidder.
The U.K. suffered a number of failures to supply across the summer, most notable was the fire at a substation in Calais/Dover which knocked out 50% of capacity with power sharing through France. Mitigated a bit by a new connection to Norway but not quite the same capacity. Wind was also down over the summer, which impacted U.K. energy supply and demand didn’t drop further pushing demand for gas.
We’ve had a warmer winter so far, but if we get a “Beast from the East” storm in the late winter across Europe that’ll put more pressure on prices, and that’s not out of the realms of possibility given the chaotic start to the year across Americas.
Gas still plays the biggest contribution to U.K. energy production. Renewables are getting there but we’re in the transition phase where it needs investment now, but the payoff will be in the future so it’s been slow.
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C4r1s
Any links to why electricity prices are going up? Everything I’ve read is about gas, low supplies, Russia holding back, increased demand etc