As the ‘Beast from the East’ chilled the UK to its core last week, the harsh weather resulted in a historic 20-year-high spike in gas prices across Britain.
Last Thursday, the price of gas shot to a record UK high of £3 per therm – a 400% increase against the price of gas being delivered just one week earlier.
The resulting instability across the UK saw the National Grid issue a
Gas Deficit Warning – a signal used in the event of demand potentially outweighing supply; if the cold snap continued in the way we saw last week, then the UK could well have run out of gas.
The energy used by Britain’s manufacturers can make up a third of all expenses, so when demand surges, it lifts the cost sharply and dramatically. Combine this with the “significant gas supply losses” experienced last week and prices rise even further.
