THE images of the recent tragic accident at Didcot Power Station when, during the course of its demolition, a turbine hall collapsed causing fatalities was for me somehow symbolic of the dangerously unstable state into which this Government and previous ones have allowed the energy industry to plunge.

The National Grid has recently published some very disturbing predictions that as current plans stand there will be an energy gap for the forthcoming winter because the demand for electricity will exceed the generating capacity of the industry. Put simply, there are now too few power stations working to produce enough electricity to meet demand for the months of December, January and February.

No sooner had this announcement been made than the possibility of there being a further three years delay in Hinkley C nuclear power station coming into service was made public. This was due to fears being expressed by unions about technical faults and also the very high cost of building the station.

I understand that the reason for this very unusual energy gap to be forecast is down to the fact that there have been a number of closures of coal-fired power stations when hardly any ‘cleaner’ alternatives have been built. From my perspective, this is the equivalent of a tree surgeon crawling out onto the branch of a tree and sawing it off behind him with no means of reaching the ground safely. It is a problem the Government has created for itself and we, the consumers of electricity, will suffer for it one way or another. Either there will be power cuts and all that that will mean to damaging our fragile economy or resort will have to be made to emergency measures to plug the energy gap but at a price. The price will be passed onto consumers and we shall see the impact in our energy bills.

The extra costs may come from starting up “last resort” back-up generating plants and experts warn that this will cost millions, a cost that will have to be paid by the consumers. Another way to keep the lights on is to import electricity from mainland Europe through undersea cables. This will only happen if the UK is prepared to pay the extortionate prices for the energy likely to be demanded from the suppliers that will know this country will be in a desperate state.

How can it be that the Government has put the National Grid in such a position that it has been forced to issue such a stark warning?

I understand that the Government is acting in obedience to an EU directive requiring substantial steps to be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This has led to the programme of closure of coal-fired power stations throughout the UK, Didcot being but one of these. Had there been a programme in place to create enough alternative methods of power generation that kept the ‘green’ campaigners happy, I doubt that the National Grid forecast would have been so bleak.

Not surprisingly, the Department of Energy and Climate Change is not accepting the warning issued by the National Grid and is claiming that it has the situation in hand. The statement issued by the department seems to indicate that reliance is being placed on additional supplies coming from “interconnectors” and renewable energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines.

Just as the department issued its statement countering that of the National Grid, the market showed a marked loss of confidence by investors in the energy industry.