A UK newspaper has reported that the country's energy regulator Ofgem has secretly briefed energy suppliers that wholesale energy prices are likely to keep rising over the next year.
According to the Mail on Sunday’s report, Ofgem warned suppliers at a recent seminar that prices could go up by another 20% in the next year if the problems experienced with imports from Europe seen this winter are repeated.
Ofgem’s principal concerns apparently center on the Interconnector pipeline, which has persistently failed to deliver the import volumes expected in recent months. Officials are unable to ascertain why the pipeline has failed to function as it should by delivering extra gas when prices in the UK are higher than those on the continent.