UK Day-ahead gas prices traded up to £2.75/therm and Within-day gas up to £3.50/therm early  Thursday afternoon – understood to be record levels, as the freezing weather pushed consumption to a third higher than seasonal norms and outages crimped supply. The acute tightness led to National Grid earlier issuing its first Gas Deficit Warning – seeking extra supplies and demand side turndown – since the system was introduced in 2012; its predecessor, the Gas Balancing Alert was last issued in 2010.  The last time prices were near these levels was in mid-March 2006, when strong demand and a raft of production and storage issues in the UK and on the European mainland propelled both Within-day and Day-ahead above £2.50/therm.     

Day-ahead UK power, which traded up until lunchtime, last traded just under £100/MWh, its highest value since November 2016.

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