UK braces for even higher bills as Norway threatens electricity export cut

theguardian.com:

British consumers could face even higher bills and potential energy shortages this winter after Norway threatened to ration electricity exports.

The UK receives hydroelectric power from Norway through a subsea interconnector cable running beneath the North Sea.

However, water levels in southern Norway have been so low this year that the country’s government could put its own consumers ahead of international customers.

Residents of the country’s capital, Oslo, have been asked to take shorter showers and turn off the tap when brushing their teeth as its reservoirs have been depleted by the dry weather experienced across Europe.

The oil and energy minister, Terje Aasland, told the Norwegian parliament on Monday that refilling dams will be prioritised over power production when levels fall below seasonal averages.

The move is a blow to the UK, as well as countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, which rely on cheap Norwegian hydropower. A 450-mile interconnector joins Blyth, Northumberland, to Kvilldal power station.

The €1.6bn (£1.35bn) North Sea Link cable, which was switched on last October, is able to channel up to 1.4gigawattsofelectricity between the two countries when demand is high in the UK and there is low domestic wind generation. This is enough to power about 5% of British homes.

Aasland said that electricity production in southern Norway was down 18% on last year and production in south-west Norway last week was the lowest seen this year so far.

He said: “This results in historically high electricity prices and a situation where, for the first time in many years, we cannot completely rule out a period of electricity rationing in the spring. But our professional authorities emphasise that the probability of this is