Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the oral statement of 29 November 2012, Official Report, column 388, on energy policy, what the evidential basis is for the statement that global gas prices were 50 per cent higher between 2006 and 2011 than between 2001 and 2006.
[132677]
Answer
The statement should have referred to UK wholesale gas prices rather than global gas prices. A revision to clarify this is being issued by the Department to the Annual Energy Statement page 8, paragraph 1.10, which reads:
“Energy costs are a big factor in most households' expenses, and rising global gas prices, which were 50% higher in the five years from 2007 to 2011 than in the previous five years”.
The National Balancing Point (NBP) is the virtual point on the UK's gas transmission system where wholesale gas is traded. The average NBP spot price in the five years from 2007-11 was 43.5 pence per therm. The equivalent figure for the preceding five years from 2002-06 was 28.5 pence per therm implying a period-on-period increase of 52.7%.