UK Paid Record Price for European Electricity Imports During Heatwave but Cancelled Margin Alert Same Day

Britain paid close to £1,400 per megawatt hour for electricity imported from Europe on Wednesday evening, roughly 1,600 per cent above typical rates and 15 times normal wholesale prices, GB News reported. The National Energy System Operator secured up to 2.3 gigawatts of emergency imports, primarily from the Netherlands, after domestic solar and gas generation fell short of demand.

The purchases added an estimated £11 million to consumer bills in a single evening.

Neso obtained special permission from the EU to complete the transaction because European nations had restricted sales to protect their own supplies. The operator issued a second electricity margin notice this week, requesting an additional 700 megawatts of generating capacity between 7 pm and 10 pm on Friday.

A Neso spokesman stated that forecasts indicated tight margins due to extremely high temperatures affecting Great Britain and the continent.

Temperatures reached 36.7 °C in Somerset on Thursday, provisionally setting a new record for the hottest June day. Neso cancelled Wednesday's margin notice shortly after 2 pm once confident in supply levels and described such notices as a routine tool that does not indicate supply is at risk. Energy consultants criticised Neso's demand forecasts.

Noémie Baud of Montel said the operator appeared to have misjudged electricity demand by as much as three gigawatts. Kathryn Porter of Watt Logic stated that Neso failed to anticipate the shortfall due to poor modelling and had to beg for supplies after frequency fluctuations signalled grid strain. Several gas-fired power stations were offline for routine summer maintenance.