Britain’s gas storage levels ‘concerningly low’ after extreme cold, says British Gas owner

has said.

said.

and mainly relies on it for heating the home.

"As of 9th January 2025, UK storage sites currently hold 26% less stock than at the same time last year, leaving them roughly half full," the energy company stated.

We are less than a week behind in covering gas supplies to meet our country's needs.

Since early November, sufficient gas to heat three million homes every day.

The firm pointed out that gas storage levels were already below average heading into December, due to the start of winter coming early. This, coupled with "stubbornly high" gas prices, has made it even harder to build up storage over the Christmas period.

Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, reveals that a similar situation is prevalent across Europe. On Tuesday, European storage facilities were at 69 per cent capacity, a drop from 84 per cent at the same point the previous year.

The UK's total gas storage capacity is approximately 10 per cent or less than that of France, Germany or the Netherlands.

Centrica stated that supply difficulties have been heightened following the suspension of Russian gas pipeline deliveries through Ukraine at the end of last month.

In response to the shortages, the Prime Minister's spokesperson stated that the government is "confident that the UK has a sufficient gas supply and electricity capacity to meet demand this coming winter."

"We keep up to date with the national energy system operator on a regular basis to monitor our energy safety and to make sure they have everything they need to maintain the security of our supply," he added.

“Our determination to provide clean energy by 2030 will shift our reliance on volatile fuel markets abroad to reliable, UK-sourced energy, which is the best way to safeguard consumers and enhance our energy autonomy.”

Reports that the UK is near an energy blackout are "not true", the spokesman stated.

Both of these paraphrased versions preserve the original meaning and context of the text, while using different vocabulary to convey the same message.

“With Clean Power 2030 in sight, long-lasting energy storage will become more crucial in ensuring a system that relies heavily on renewable energy sources can function smoothly. Energy storage enables lights to stay on and homes to remain warm even when the sun doesn't shine or the wind isn't blowing, which makes investing in our storage capacity a sound financial decision.”

We need to consider storage as a highly valuable form of insurance. Similar to any insurance policy, it may not be necessary at all times, but having additional capacity does provide protection against the most extreme scenarios.

“Had Rough been operating at full capacity over recent years, it would have saved households in the UK £100 annually on both their gas and electricity bills during the winter months. We're willing to invest £2 billion of our own money to upgrade and redevelop the Rough gas storage site, but we need the cap and floor model for long duration energy storage to apply to Rough. This would allow us to create thousands of new jobs in construction and secure a vital national asset. However, without this, UK consumers will continue to face higher energy bills than they need to.”

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