2021 United Kingdom natural gas supplier crisis

The Economist Intelligence Unit reports that Russia had limited extra gas export capacity because of high domestic requirements with production near its peak, as well as technical issues.

[8] The weather conditions also came to a disadvantage to Britain: a cold 2020/21 winter in the United Kingdom resulted in more natural gas being used for central heating than usual, depleting stockpiles,[4] which was worsened by an extra gas requirement for electricity generation over summer 2021 because of a series of nuclear power outages, the shutdown following a fire of the HVDC Cross-Channel interconnection bringing electricity from France, as well as the closure of the Rough storage facility, which made it impossible for Britain to maintain long-term reserves.

[11] Additionally legal restrictions on the maximum ordinary tariff gas companies are allowed to charge consumers meant that this price rise was unable to be entirely passed on to these customers.

[14] As of 22 November 2021, a total of 20 gas supply companies had ceased trading as a direct result of the ongoing crisis, affecting around three and a half million customers.

[18] Customers of failed companies were reallocated to new suppliers by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets mechanism, sometimes switching to more expensive rates.

[24] In June 2022, CF Industries permanently shut their fertiliser factory at Ince, Cheshire, due to continuing high gas prices and environmental taxes.

"[30] Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the rise in energy prices was a "short-term" problem caused by "the global economy coming back to life" after the COVID-19 recession.

[32] Prime Minister Johnson asked Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, for help during a meeting at the UN General Assembly in September 2021.

[33][34] In May 2022 the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, wrote to National Grid’s electricity system operator (NGESO) asking them to delay the closure of part of Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire.

[36] On 28 October 2021, natural gas prices in Europe dropped by 12% after Russia announced it would increase supplies to Austria and Germany after Russian storage sites were filled on about 8 November.