LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2021) UK Secretary of State for business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kwasi Kwarteng plans to meet with the government's electricity and gas regulator amid soaring gas prices.
"Tomorrow morning, I will meet Ofgem (Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) again to discuss this in more detail. On Monday, I will convene a roundtable with industry to plan a way forward. I will remain in constant contact with colleagues across Govt to manage the wider implications of the global gas price increase," Kwarteng said on Twitter on Saturday.
He discussed the impact of high gas prices with senior executives from the energy industry earlier in the day.
"I was reassured that security of supply was not a cause for immediate concern within the industry," Kwarteng said, adding that the British "gas system continues to operate reliably and we do not expect supply emergencies this winter."
The energy secretary expressed confidence that gas supply can be maintained in the UK, since the country has a diverse range of gas supply sources and measures to ensure that customers have their gas and electricity needs met in case a supplier fails.
"Our largest single source of gas is from domestic production, and the vast majority of imports come from reliable suppliers such as Norway. We are not dependent on Russian oil and gas," Kwarteng said.
The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said on Saturday that the National Grid Gas has the levers to mitigate gas shortage risks in the United Kingdom amid a spike in prices.
The October gas price at the Dutch TTF European gas hub climbed to a record high of 79 Euros ($92) a megawatt-hour this past Wednesday, while British day-ahead electricity prices rose nearly 19 percent to reach 475 Pounds ($652).
