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Grid Bosses Issue Gas Supply Alert
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
The National Grid is warning power suppliers to use less gas after a 30% rise on normal seasonal demand during the continued wintry weather.
National Grid (NG) issued a gas balancing alert (GBA) on Monday afternoon, only the second time that the mechanism has been used.
A spokesman said the alert had already proved effective and bosses were meeting again on Tuesday to decide whether to issue a further GBA after the current warning expires at 6am.
GBAs are a way of warning customers to ease off on the fuel as well as encouraging suppliers to bring in more gas.
The grid has received extra gas from a terminal in the Isle of Grain in Kent, and from Belgium and Norway.
A spokesman said that some power suppliers had stopped using gas on Monday afternoon, which eased the pressure.
He added: "The big generators like E.ON have gas-fired power stations and coal-fired power stations. They can choose to switch from gas to coal.
"We thought there was going to be a certain amount of gas going into the country and then a few suppliers, their supplies dropped off.
"They weren't going to be able to provide the amount that we thought, so we issued a GBA so hopefully that's going to bring it back to where it should be."
The first time a GBA was used was in March 2006.
This story was featured on the Daily Express website.
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