Wednesday, 19 August 2026
UK power sharply elevated: geopolitical gas risk, nuclear outages & low wind converge
Prices rising sharply2027 wholesale: £93.41/MWh
Energy prices are noticeably higher than normal right now, mainly because gas from the Middle East is at risk of being disrupted and several UK power stations are temporarily offline, meaning the country is having to work harder and pay more to keep the lights on. Over the next week or two we expect prices to stay high or even rise further unless there is good news on the Middle East situation or wind picks up significantly.
What's affecting prices
- •Strait of Hormuz tensions keeping gas prices very high — no peace deal in sight
- •Several UK nuclear power stations temporarily shut down at the same time
- •Wind provided barely any power on Monday — only about 1.7% of what the UK needed
- •Europe's gas storage levels well below where they were this time last year
- •Temperatures set to drop below normal this week, nudging up heating demand
Wholesale pricing based on ICE forward settlements; non-commodity charges from NESO, LCCC, Ofgem and DNO publications. Indicative only — not financial advice.