Britain's Grid Met Demand Last Month by Cutting Electricity Exports

Claire Coutinho told Parliament on Wednesday that Neso control room staff have reported Britain's electricity grid is breaching the Security and Quality of Supply Standard, GB News reported. The standard requires reserve capacity to handle sudden losses such as a power station outage.

Coutinho said staff described conditions last month in which available generation left no reserve margin while meeting demand.

The shortfall was resolved by cutting off export customers rather than affecting domestic supply. Coutinho first raised grid security questions in May. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Michael Shanks accused her of scaremongering at that time, GB News reported.

At the start of the year, proposals to reform capacity market prices that could have added new gas-fired generation were shelved.