UK energy supply ample to keep lights on this winter

Britain has enough gas and power to keep the lights on this winter even if severe weather strikes, but shrinking output from aging North Sea gas fields means there is no room for complacency, energy regulator Ofgem said yesterday.

"National Grid Transco's forecasts continue to show that supplies to customers can be maintained even in a severe Siberian-style winter," said Ofgem's chief executive Alistair Buchanan in a statement.

"But when it comes to keeping people's homes warm and the lights on, we can't be complacent," he said.

Last winter, tight gas and power supplies drew criticism of the way the UK energy market operates and some analysts warned that power cuts were likely.

In the event, the lights stayed on, although critics said this had more to do with an unusually mild winter than the robustness of energy supplies.

Ofgem, citing national grid projections, said gas supplies this winter would be tighter than last year as flows from ageing North Sea fields continue to fall.

If temperatures plummet to levels expected only once in fifty years, then Ofgem said it may be forced to seek reductions in gas consumption by big users like power stations, some of which have interruptible supply contracts.

Ofgem said the power supply outlook was more healthy than this time last year.

The safety cushion of spare supply during periods of peak demand was 20 per cent compared to 16 percent at the start of last winter.

The cushion could rise to 22 per cent if utilities restarted power stations which are available but currently flowing energy to the grid.

Ofgem said it had approved certain changes to the way the market operates in a move to improve security of supply in the unlikely event of very severe weather.