FEARS of rolling blackouts have been sparked after the UK was found to store gas supplies lasting just FIVE days.
The equivalent of less than a week’s worth of the energy source in November last year was uncovered in analysis by Labour.
It contrasts with our neighbours France, Germany and Italy who average a staggering 173 days of storage – some 35 times more.
Gas is currently providing 40 per cent of UK power generation and is crucial for maintaining energy security.
Ministers were warned by MPs in 2017 to stop the shutting down of Centrica’s Rough facility in Yorkshire, the UK’s largest storage site.
Analysts at Barclays said the closure would increase the chance of hiked winter energy prices.
Labour MPs today slammed the Department for Energy and Net Zero for complacency on the issue.
The party said that with more storage, Britain could have purchased gas while prices were lower, stored it and used it over winter when demand is higher.
But because current levels are so low, the country is vulnerable to volatile global gas prices and dependent on costly imports.
Shadow Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband, said: “This is yet another example of the Conservatives undermining Britain’s energy security with their reckless and haphazard approach.
“They were repeatedly warned not to let our storage facilities dwindle, but they characteristically ignored the warnings and did so anyway.”
“Only Labour can deliver the energy independence and lower bills Britain needs, with our plan to make the UK a clean energy superpower, built by home-grown clean power that we control in this country.”
The facility partially reopened with about 20 per cent capacity in October 2022.
A government spokesperson said: “It is ironic that Labour now claims to be concerned about gas storage when they want to shut down the North Sea, the biggest store of gas right on our doorstep.
“Thanks to our own domestic supplies we are less reliant on storage than our European counterparts.
“Sir Keir’s reckless approach to turn off the taps too soon would leave Britain dependent on shipping in dirtier fuels from foreign regimes and on building new storage that we have not needed, passing on unnecessary costs to bill payers.
“Labour would instead sacrifice 200,000 jobs and billions of pounds of tax revenue that we can use to support people with the cost of living, all for the sake of ideology.”
