SSE cuts power generation and warns “lights could go out” in UK

• 11 years ago (2013-03-23)
• David Flin

Europe 1061

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Ian Marchant, Chief Executive of SSE, one of the “big six” energy suppliers in the UK, has warned that “there is a very real risk of the lights going out” in the country. Marchant said that the government is way out in its predictions of how much the UK will struggle to find the capacity it needs. He said: “It appears the Government is significantly underestimating the scale of the capacity crunch facing the UK in the next three years, and there is a very real risk of the lights going out as a result.”

He made his comments after it emerged that SSE is planning to cut back on power generation at five of its sites in the UK following a review before the end of the financial year. It will reduce the amount it generates by 2000 MW over the next 12 months, and will postpone planned further investment in gas-fired electricity generation until at least 2015.

This follows a report from the energy regulator Ofgem that said that recent power station closures in the UK could cause a 10 per cent fall in capacity by this April.