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Pressure on the British energy market may ease somewhat next week. The weather is changing, and the wind is blowing harder, which means that wind farms can produce more electricity.
At the same time, a 724-kilometre-long power cable between Great Britain and Norway will be put into operation so that more power will be available from that side as well, and prices can fall somewhat.
Electricity prices in the United Kingdom have soared since a fire in a power cable between England and France made supplies from mainland Europe impossible. Coupled with the high gas price that affects all of Europe, this created problems for the British energy sector. Several small energy suppliers have already gone bankrupt because their customers had concluded contracts to purchase electricity and gas for a price that is below the current cost price.
Consumers will not be without power because there is an arrangement that other energy companies take over the customers. But due to the maximum rate that the British government imposes, it is hardly attractive for other energy companies to serve customers. The British government hopes to overcome this with cheap loans to energy companies.
At the same time, the power supply as a whole is also under pressure. There is currently sufficient capacity, but if power demand rises or something suddenly goes wrong at one of the UK’s power stations, power outages cannot be ruled out, experts say. The question is whether Norway can directly help with this. Due to a dry summer, the reservoirs in the country, which provide a large part of the electricity production, are not as full as in other years.
Due to the new cable, there is a good chance that Norwegians will export electricity to the United Kingdom instead of the rest of Europe. As a result, British electricity prices are expected to remain higher. For the Norwegians, it is, therefore, better to earn money from the export to the United Kingdom. Currently, a megawatt-hour of electricity on the British market costs just under 3000 pounds, which is about 3500 euros converted. In Norway, the same amount of electricity was worth just under 120 euros.
