Three reasons why UK electricity prices are so high
The price energy suppliers pay for electricity is set by a bidding process with each generating company saying what it would be willing to accept
The price energy suppliers pay for electricity is set by a bidding process with each generating company saying what it would be willing to accept to produce one unit of electricity. Once built, the cost of generating power from renewables like wind and solar is relatively low, so these typically come in with the cheapest bid.
Nuclear might come next. Gas generators often have the highest costs because they have to buy fuel to generate electricity as well as paying a "carbon price" - a charge for emissions. The wholesale cost is set by the last unit of electricity needed to meet demand from consumers.
This means that even if gas only generates 1% of overall electricity at a given time it can often set the overall wholesale price which gets paid to every type of generator. That raises prices for households - particularly because the wars in Iran and Ukraine have increased the cost of gas.
Northern Ireland operates on a separate system to the rest of the UK, being part of the Single Electricity Market with the Republic of Ireland.
The BriefWire