As Russia tightens the screw on gas supplies to Europe and amid growing fears of winter shortages, the government has stayed resolute in its insistence that the country’s energy is secure. “Unlike Europe, Britain isn’t dependent on Russian gas,” it has said. “The UK’s secure and diverse energy supplies will ensure households, businesses and industry can be confident they can get the electricity and gas they need.”
Yet in the energy industry concern is growing. “Physical energy supply disruption is a bigger risk now than it’s been in decades,” Robert Buckley, of Cornwall Insight, the consultancy, has warned. Another seasoned observer confessed to “getting more worried by the day . . . I will be buying candles.”
The government argues that the problem is