National Grid’s Electricity System Operator (ESO) paid €11,633.79 per megawatt hour (more than 5000% higher than the usual price) to avoid an outage in southeast London last Wednesday.
South East London Combined Heat and Power, a major energy-from-waste incineration plant in South Bermondsey, London, designed to generate both heat and electricity. Credit: Bill Bertram, Pixel8, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
London nearly had a power blackout last week, forcing the UK to pay Belgium a record price for electricity to keep the capital connected. National Grid’s Electricity System Operator (ESO) paid €11,633.79 per megawatt hour (more than 5000% higher than the usual price) to avoid an outage in southeast London last Wednesday.
The UK relies on importing electricity from interconnectors overseas, especially France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Only a small quantity of electricity was purchased at the record price, reportedly enough to supply eight houses for a year.
