The Government has ruled out state stockpiling of gas.
The Government has ruled out state stockpiling of gas amid fears it would affect commercial gas investments, push up gas prices and unsettle the market.
In a move that will dismay many business gas customers concerned about the security of supply, a report by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said that it would leave such projects to the commercial market.
Concern over gas supplies was made starkly apparent last winter, when shortages caused much publicised fears that the country could run out of gas. For many business gas customers – who are on interruptible contracts that mean cheaper prices but the threat of being cut off if supplies run too low – the affect of serious shortages could prove devastating.
Industry regulator OfGem had recommended that the state should take more control over the energy market to help ensure supply and affordable prices.
Speaking to NEBusiness, Conservative candidate for Stockton South, James Wharton, expressed disappointment in the DECC announcement, claiming that storage projects could bring investment to his Teeside constituency and warning against increasing dependence on countries such as Russia for the UK’s gas supply.
This sentiment was echoed by Labour’s Malcolm Wicks, a former energy minister in Tony Blair’s cabinet, who stated that urgent focus was needed on energy security, because the UK was becoming increasingly and rapidly dependent on gas imports.
Wicks also pointed out the importance of maximising home growing power, citing the vitalness of both green and nuclear energy to secure the future of Britain’s gas supplies.
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Read the NEBusiness story here.
Picture credit – CCA: Gas Hob by The Green Party from Flickr
And the Daily Telegraph interview with Malcolm Wicks here.
Tags: Business Gas, Energy shortage, Green energy, Nuclear energy
