More than 1,000 schools across England and Wales shut their gates on Wednesday as the UK's record-breaking heatwave tightened its grip, while behind the scenes a handful of gas power plants were paid almost £4m to generate electricity for just a few hours as millions of sweltering viewers turned on air conditioning, fans and kettles during England's second World Cup game.
The Met Office extended its red warning for extreme heat to include the south coast, with a provisional temperature of 36.1C recorded in Gosport, Hampshire – the highest June temperature on record. Forecasters warned the UK could surpass its all-time high of 40.3C, set in Coningsby, Lincolnshire in July 2022. Hundreds of schools opted to close fully or partially, move lessons online or cut the school day short, leaving working parents scrambling for up to four weeks of unpaid parental leave.
“Gas plants paid £4m as 1,000 schools close and temperature hits record 36.1C during UK heatwave.”
The heatwave has sent electricity prices surging across Europe as demand for cooling soared and record temperatures forced a string of power plant outages. In Great Britain, the energy system operator was forced to manage a jump in demand during England’s goalless draw with Ghana, when millions of viewers dashed to make drinks at half-time and full-time. Shivam Malhotra, head of power trading at the consultancy LCP Delta, estimated that demand rose by about 300MW at half-time and 225MW at full-time.
Gas plants were paid up to £1,000 per megawatt-hour (MWh) to ramp up output as the country’s solar power waned – roughly 14 times the average power price in June last year. But Malhotra said there was no sign that plant owners were “gaming” the system: “These are the prices I would expect to see at the moment; they’re at about the right level to reflect the scarcity we can see in the market.” Gas plant owners have previously faced accusations of profiteering during tight winter periods. Interestingly, the much-discussed hydration breaks during the match “did not produce a noticeable change in demand”, Malhotra noted, adding that they may help TV advertisers but offer no clear benefit to the electricity system.