Britain’s gas crisis could lead to higher energy bills if we have to import more from the EU to keep country running, expert says

Britain has enough gas, or at least that’s what National Gas bosses are saying in the wake of Centrica’s alarming supply evaluation earlier this week.

Centrica chief Chris O’Shea had sounded the alarm about gas stocks dipping to ‘concerningly low’ levels as the UK endured a freezing start to 2025, but National Gas moved yesterday to allay such fears. 

The gas provider stated that stocks remain ‘healthy’, a stark contrast to British Gas owners Centrica who had claimed there was less than a week’s worth left in national storage sites.

The picture around the nation’s energy supply remains unclear though, and should Centrica’s claims reflect reality, then the Government may be left with no alternative other than to turn to the EU.

Whilst the EU offers the Government a safety net in terms of gas supply, turning to Britain’s continental neighbours could trigger a sharp rise in energy bills for consumers, a top expert has warned. 

Natasha Fielding, head of the European gas pricing agency Argus Media, agreed with the assessment that there is no risk of the UK’s gas supply running dry with plenty of alternative providers available, but she did flag the downsides of reaching such a predicament.

EU gas supply offers the UK a safety net but it does not come without its downsides

Speaking to the Financial Times, Ms Fielding said that all of the import options available to the Government would ‘require the UK gas price premium to grow even more’ and thus see higher prices for wholesalers and consumers. 

The EU itself is enduring a period of uncertainty surrounding its own gas supply, after prices rose to their highest point in 15 months last week as Russian gas lines flowing into Europe via Ukraine were turned off.

A five-year transit agreement, signed off on by Kyiv and Moscow prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, expired on New Year’s Day, ending a decades-old supply route for Europe.

Whilst European dependency on Russian gas has waned slightly in recent years, it still remains somewhat reliant.

Moreover, with just one of four pipelines from Russia into Europe still open, the EU will struggle to meet the massive fall-off in supply from its Eastern neighbour.

And again, whilst reliance on Russian fuel has fallen, the impact of its decreased supply is expected to be sizeable, with further fuel rationing expected on the continent.

So, in short, should the UK be forced to into dipping into teetering EU gas supplies, it will have to pay a pretty premium to do so.

This added cost will then likely be passed on to the nation’s energy consumers, who have already tolerated increased energy prices this winter owing to the national grid’s rising reliance on renewable energy sources.

Last week, Ukraine turned off the one of the two remaining pipelines running from Russia into Europe

Under Labour Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, the government has been powering ahead with meeting its net-zero targets

Whilst new records of clean power generation were reached in 2024 under Labour’s drive to meet net-zero targets, led by Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, the nation saw issues such as low wind speed arise over the winter months and increase reliance once more on gas powered plants.

These issues and prices increases have drawn fresh criticism of Labour’s clean power plans and heightened concerns that the UK’s rising reliance on renewables could expose consumers when wind and solar generation experiences dips in productivity.

Under Labour and Ed Miliband’s plans, the UK grid will run on 95 per cent low-carbon power sources by 2030, with a number of gas plants remaining online as backup if and when required.

However, other issues aside from renewable generation productivity, such as the economic viability of maintaining seldom used plants, have sparked much debate amongst experts as to whether or not Labour’s plans will benefit Britain, or just make energy consumption all the more expensive.