BREAKING NEWS | Plunging temperatures and high demand for gas fired power stations have reduced UK winter gas storage to concerningly low levels

The UK’s gas storage is under pressure this winter as the UK battles both extreme cold and high gas prices.

The ongoing colder-than-usual conditions in the UK combined with the end of Russian gas pipeline supplies through Ukraine on 31 December 2024 has meant that gas inventory levels across the UK are down.

As of the 9th of January 2025, UK storage sites are 26% lower than last year’s inventory at the same time, leaving them around half full. This means the UK has less than a week of gas demand in store.

Gas storage was already lower than usual heading into December as a result of the early onset of winter. Combined with stubbornly high gas prices, this has meant that it has been more difficult to top up storage over Christmas.

The situation is echoed across Europe. By 7 January 2024, despite many countries mandating minimum storage levels ahead of winter, European storage was at 69% capacity, down from 84% at the same time the previous year. The UK’s total gas storage capacity is around 10 per cent or less than in France, Germany, or the Netherlands.

As energy demand spikes due to the freezing weather, the UK has seen a particular strain on its gas storage. Despite being full ahead of winter, current gas inventory at Rough, the country’s largest gas storage site, which is operated by Centrica, is 20% lower than at the same time last year. Rough has played a crucial role so far this winter by supplying almost 420 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas since early November, enough to heat three million homes every day. 

“Energy storage is what keeps the lights on and homes warm when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow, so investing in our storage capacity makes perfect economic sense. We need to think of storage as a very valuable insurance policy.” 

Chris O’Shea, Group CEO at Centrica

Without Rough’s gas, UK consumers would face even higher prices, more imports and potential energy shortfalls.

The UK is heavily reliant on Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) imports, but these shipments come with challenges. Most of the LNG the UK imports comes from the US, with each cargo traveling an average of over 3,000 nautical miles to reach UK shores. Many trading routes are also under pressure due to geopolitical issues.

This means the UK is competing directly with other nations, particularly in Asia and Europe, for these vital shipments which can head for another destination at any time if other countries bid more than the UK.

“The UK’s gas storage levels are concerningly low. We are an outlier from the rest of Europe when it comes to the role of storage in our energy system and we are now seeing the implications of that” said Chris O’Shea, Group Chief Executive of Centrica.

“As we work towards Clean Power 2030, long-duration energy storage will be needed more than ever in order to help balance a system that is increasingly reliant on renewables. Energy storage is what keeps the lights on and homes warm when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow, so investing in our storage capacity makes perfect economic sense. We need to think of storage as a very valuable insurance policy. Like any insurance policy, it may not always be needed, but having more capacity helps protect against worst-case scenarios.

“If Rough had been operating at full capacity in recent years, it would have saved UK households £100 from both their gas and their electricity bills each winter. We stand ready to invest £2bn of our own money in upgrading and redeveloping the Rough gas storage facility but we urgently need the cap and floor model recently announced for long duration energy storage to be applicable to Rough. With that, we can create thousands of new jobs in construction and safeguard a vital national asset. Without that, UK consumers will continue to have higher energy bills than is necessary.”

If this investment goes ahead it will increase gas storage in the short term and enable Rough to be the world’s largest hydrogen storage facility in the future. The 40-year-old site requires significant investment to enable this expansion, and to allow it to store hydrogen.

To unlock the £2bn investment in the facility, Centrica requires a cap and floor model for the asset, similar to the model used for other forms of long-duration energy storage. Recent reports from Centrica and FTI suggest that Rough would have saved consumers £5.2bn over the past two winters and looking forward, it could save consumers £1bn a year or more by 2050 if converted to hydrogen storage.