How is the UK's overall gas supply after Centrica boss voices concerns?

The owner of British gas has said UK gas stores have fallen to "concerningly low" levels, as the UK continues to battle with freezing cold temperatures.

Centrica said the UK currently has less than a week's worth of demand for gas in store, but National Gas has since confirmed there is enough to meet demand.

What has Centrica said?

The energy company has said that stocks at UK sites which store gas were a quarter below this time last year.

According to Centrica, this has left gas storage sites at around half-full.

Due to the cold weather and Russian gas pipeline supplies through Ukraine ending last month, this has put pressure on stored gas stocks in the UK.

Stored gas makes up a fairly small proportion of Britain's overall supply when compared with imports from the likes of Norway and gas produced in the North Sea.

But the gas which is kept in UK's storage sites is well above half way according to National Gas who runs the system.

How have National Gas responded?

"The overall picture across Great Britain's eight main gas storage sites remains healthy," a spokesman said."Britain obtains its gas from a diverse range of sources beyond that already in storage, meaning we are well placed to respond to demand this winter."

Why are stored gas supplies running low?

The UK has just recorded its coldest night of the winter so far on Thursday, as freezing temperatures are expected to continue over the coming days.

As a result, people are turning on their gas boilers for longer than usual to heat up their homes.

Britain has a lower gas storage capacity than other European countries.

Those two combined bring gas storage capacity below what it is this time last year.

In response to the concerns a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said the Government has "no concerns".They added they are "confident we will have a sufficient gas supply and electricity capacity to meet demand this winter, due to our diverse and resilient energy system".

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