There’s no need for households and businesses in the UK to panic over energy supplies this winter, Downing Street said on Monday.
It comes as the squeeze on gas supplies in Europe has helped fuel rocketing inflation and driven up household bills, with analysts expecting the energy price cap to rise to £3,554 in October.
Asked whether people should cut down on energy use, A spokeswoman for No 10 Downing Street said households, businesses, and industry “can be confident they will get the electricity and gas that they need over the winter” because the UK has “one of the most reliable and diverse energy systems in the world.”
She said people should not panic or feel they should cut down on energy use.
“These decisions, in terms of energy consumption, remain decisions for individuals,” she said. “But what I’m saying is that households, businesses, and industry can be confident that they will have the electricity and gas that they need.”
But Downing Street supports the National Grid’s plans, the spokeswoman said.
“We support the National Grid in developing all options which could benefit consumers and help to reduce bills by spreading out peak demand.”
Her comment came as the Attalos gas tanker was set to pull into the Isle of Grain terminal in Kent, by the mouth of the Thames, during the day—believed to be the first cargo of liquified natural gas (LNG) sent from Australia to Europe in six years.
Some of the gas on Attalos is likely to be used in the UK straight away, but much of it will probably flow to Europe through the pipelines that connect Britain to the continent.
There, it might be channelled into European gas storage sites and some of it could return to Britain during winter.
Concerns that shortages on the continent could jeopardise the supply of gas back to the UK were played down by No 10, which highlighted both North Sea production and the use of “reliable partners” such as Norway in ensuring homes could be heated and the lights kept on over the winter.
The UK has some of the highest LNG import capacity in Europe, but it has very little gas storage.
Therefore, much of the LNG that comes to Europe this summer will arrive in British ports but be shipped over to European storage sites.
