By IRNA,
London : The National Grid Thursday issued a second “gas balancing alert” as energy supplies were cut to factories in central and north-west England and the country continued to suffer from severe weather conditions.
The alert, the second this week, asks power firms and large industrial users to voluntarily cut back on their gas consumption and to halt work or turn to alternative energy sources. Reports of supplies being cut off are the first tangible sign that fears over energy shortages are translating into supply disruption as Britain suffers from its worst winter in decades.
Ministers have repeatedly insisted that annual threats of power blackouts were alarmist and point out that Britain now has two new pipeline links to Norway and the continent plus a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import system. Fears of energy shortages have grown as Britain has become more dependent upon imported gas supplies from the North Sea in decline.
On Monday, the opposition Conservatives accused the government of having its “head in the sand” for failing to ensure that more gas storage facilities had been put in place over the past decade, claiming that Britain had just eight days of capacity.
Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming has also tabled an Early Day Motion to parliament calling for more government action to safeguard the power system.
“We are on the edge when it comes to our power supplies and there is no safety margin. The government needs to take action in a variety of ways, one of which is to ensure there is sufficient gas storage in place,” Hemming warned.