LONDON: British wholesale natural gas and power prices rose on Tuesday morning, with prompt power soaring due to National Grid expectations of tight electricity supply this winter.
The baseload power price for delivery on Wednesday was 9.20 pounds or 22 percent higher at 52 pounds per megawatt-hour by 1002 GMT.
Britain is likely to face tight electricity supplies due to the closure of several power plants, the country's grid operator said on Tuesday, but measures have been put in place to keep the lights on by curtailing energy use.
However, Britain's energy market regulator Ofgem said the risk of energy supply disruptions this winter is no higher than that in recent years.
From October to March, the de-rated average cold spell (ACS) margin - or the average excess supply over peak demand - could fall to 4.1 percent compared with 5 percent a year earlier, due to planned and unplanned power plant closures and breakdowns, National Grid's annual winter outlook report showed.
Britain has eight nuclear reactors offline, totalling 4.65 gigawatts or more than half of the country's nuclear capacity. Some units at three fossil-fuel power stations in the UK are also shut due to fires this year.
"Margins may be tight this winter following plant closures, particularly if we experience interconnector exports to Europe or low wind," the report said.
"The outlook remains manageable and well within the reliability standard set by government. As system operator, we have taken the sensible precaution to secure additional tools to bolster our response to tighter margins," it added.
Those measures include a scheme to encourage utilities to make idle capacity available this winter and paying offices and factories to reduce electricity use between November and February.
The schemes will provide an additional 1.1 GW of capacity and could increase the available margin to 6.1 percent, National Grid said.
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