Wednesday, 12 August 2026
Amber heat alert + Hartlepool outage spike spot to £140/MWh; curve stays firm
Prices rising sharply2027 wholesale: £84.48/MWh
Energy prices are noticeably higher than usual right now, mainly because it is very hot across the UK this week — an official heat warning has been issued — which means people are using more electricity for cooling, and at the same time a power station has gone offline for maintenance, so there is less electricity being generated. We expect prices to ease back a little from the weekend onwards as the hot spell breaks and windier weather returns, but they are likely to stay above the normal summer level.
What's affecting prices
- •Amber extreme heat warning for Thursday — highest demand of the summer so far
- •Hartlepool nuclear unit 2 offline for 16 days, cutting roughly 600 MW of zero-carbon generation
- •Wind generation running about a quarter below normal, forcing expensive gas power stations to pick up the slack
- •Europe short of electricity too — French and German power stations limited by hot rivers and drought, so the UK cannot import as much as usual
- •Middle East tensions still keeping gas import costs elevated, even though prices have come off their May highs
Wholesale pricing based on ICE forward settlements; non-commodity charges from NESO, LCCC, Ofgem and DNO publications. Indicative only — not financial advice.