10th Jan 2025 12:01
(Alliance News) - Centrica PLC on Friday said that high demand for gas amid the ongoing cold snap in Europe has reduced UK winter gas storage to "concerningly" low levels.
The Windsor, England-based energy provider and owner of British Gas highlighted that gas storage was already lower than usual heading into December due to the early onset of Winter.
"Combined with stubbornly high gas prices, this has meant that it has been more difficult to top up storage over Christmas," Centrica said.
It added: "As energy demand spikes due to the freezing weather, the UK has seen a particular strain on its gas storage. Despite being full ahead of winter, current gas inventory at Rough, the country's largest gas storage site, which is operated by Centrica, is 20% lower than at the same time last year."
Noting that the UK was "an outlier from the rest of Europe when it comes to the role of storage in our energy system," Chief Executive Officer Chris O'Shea said: "As we work towards Clean Power 2030, long-duration energy storage will be needed more than ever in order to help balance a system that is increasingly reliant on renewables. Energy storage is what keeps the lights on and homes warm when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow, so investing in our storage capacity makes perfect economic sense. We need to think of storage as a very valuable insurance policy. Like any insurance policy, it may not always be needed, but having more capacity helps protect against worst-case scenarios."
Centrica shares were 0.4% higher at 133.20 pence each around noon on Friday in London.
By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor
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