Monday, 4 May 2026
UK power mildly bullish near-term: nuclear outages & Norwegian supply gaps offset Iran relief
Prices edging higherCal-27 wholesale: £81.60/MWh
What's affecting prices
- •Norwegian supply squeeze: SAGE pipeline (-57 mcm/d, 6 May) and Bacton Shell offline 9–13 May
- •Nuclear availability falling: Torness outage started 1 May; Heysham 1-2, Heysham 2-8 and Sizewell B planned outages imminent
- •Iran/Hormuz uncertainty: diplomatic signals eased prompt prices, but blockade (~20% global LNG) remains intact and hawkish rhetoric persists
- •Sub-seasonal UK/NW European temperatures forecast next week, lifting gas-for-power demand
- •OPEC+ output hike confirmed 3 May, capping oil-linked upside; EU storage ~32.5% full with injections continuing
Wholesale pricing based on ICE forward settlements; non-commodity charges from NESO, LCCC, Ofgem and DNO publications. Indicative only — not financial advice.