Problems at Britain's nuclear power stations will put pressure on energy bills and increase the risk of blackouts during any winter cold snap.

Wood Mackenzie, a leading market analysis group, yesterday said price rises were "inevitable", given the significant reduction in Britain's power output as a result of technical problems which led to reactors at Hunterston in Ayrshire and Hinkley in Somerset being shut down earlier this month.

Problems at nuclear plants may raise prices soon.

This will also have a knock-on effect on gas prices as British Energy, the UK's biggest power generator, responsible for eight nuclear power stations and one coal-fired plant, is forced to buy electricity on the wholesale market to fulfil its contracts, the analysts claimed.

Stewart Gray, a senior European gas and power analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said: "This will put upwards pressure on power prices and increase the call on gas-fired power plants which will also put upwards pressure on gas prices.

"There could even potentially be risks to security of supply for both gas and power, though this would require a fairly unlikely 'worst case' combination of plant outages and cold weather."

British Energy closed the reactors after discovering cracked pipes at Hunterston and Hinkley. It said it was also examining a "significant leak" in the cooling systems of a third power plant.

However, the Department for Trade and Industry denied the problems would have an impact on energy supply which would be sufficient to cover demand whatever the weather conditions.

A spokesman said: "As far as electricity is concerned, we have spare margin of capacity exactly because generators do become unavailable from time to time."

Sources: http://www.theherald.co.uk

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