The National Grid ESO had five coal plants on standby last winter to add extra capacity at times of peak demand. This winter, only Ratcliffe has remained online after the four other units closed.
The system operator’s main contingency measure is therefore to pay families to switch off devices, which it has already done twice this winter.
Tony Jordan of energy consultancy Auxilione said that the grid faced less pressure than last year.
He said: “I don’t think there’s any real panic. We’ve got any capacity available. Prices are still down at the moment. Crisis is getting further and further behind us. If we do have any tightening it would just be really short term events.”
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