More data doodling on the price of natural gas charged to UK households (4 times its cost) and the need to build 3GW of natural gas with wind a year for the next four years!

households are bing billed four tims h cost of gas

Let’s start with the “spark gap”- per Brave AI:

“The Spark Gap in the UK refers to the significant price difference between electricity and gas, measured per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

As of early 2026, electricity costs approximately four times more than gas—around 27.69p/kWh for electricity versus 5.30p/kWh for gas under the new Energy Price Cap.

“ This disparity is the largest in Europe and is driven by several factors:

· “Electricity prices are tied to gas prices because a large portion of UK electricity is generated by gas-fired power plants.

Note gas fired power plants are used to back-up intermittent renewables – without them there would be black-outs and rationing of electricity!!!

· Green levies and environmental taxes are applied to electricity bills but not to gas, significantly increasing electricity costs.

· Historical policy choices have placed the financial burden of decarbonisation (e.g., wind farm development, grid upgrades) on electricity consumers, not general taxation or gas users.

Which seems a roundabout way of saying that electricity prices suffer from carbon taxes and the costs of decarbonisation – which natural gas avoids - why bother with renewables at all!!! This looks like a set-up to inflict the same costs onto gas as are inflicted onto the costs of producing renewables. Talk about ‘bass-ackwards’ logic!

“ A more balanced solution may involve universal low-cost heat pump tariffs (e.g., 15p/kWh), improved installation standards, and policies that make clean electricity more affordable without penalising gas users.

Is natural gas expensively priced?

For households:

“The average monthly cost of gas in the UK is £70, based on typical usage of 12,000 kWh per year and energy price cap rates effective for January to March 2026. This equates to an annual gas bill of £840.

“In 2025, gas supplied 28% of the UK’s electricity, up slightly from previous years, driven by reduced nuclear output and rising demand.

“ 87% of UK households, equivalent to around 22 million homes, use natural gas for heating and hot water. That’s 22 million homes demanding 12,000 kwh each equals 2.64 million kwh

That’s gas direct to households – how about gas used to generate electricity (I return to household charges for gas below?)

“The UK government aims to reduce unabated gas use to no more than 5% of total electricity generation by 2030, as part of its Clean Power 2030 Action Plan.

“Gas is a major source of electricity generation in the UK, accounting for 40.2% of the country’s electricity mix as of January 19, 2026, according to live National Grid data. On that day, gas-fired power stations generated 14.83 GW of electricity, making it the largest single source of power at that moment. Historically, gas has been a key component of the UK’s energy mix, with 73% of the UK’s gas supply for electricity coming from domestic and Norwegian fields, while 23% comes from liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and 4% from storage withdrawals.

Call it 15GW

That is an aim to reduce electricity generated gas from 40% to 5% in the next four years. that means costly and unreliable renewables will need to generate that’s a reduction and replacement of 87.5% or 13.125GW in four years – a little over 3GW every year for four years.

“Hornsea 3, currently under construction off the Yorkshire coast, is set to become the UK’s largest offshore wind farm upon completion around 2027, with a planned capacity of 2.9 gigawatts (GW)—enough to power over 3 million homes. “ – when it works at optimal output that is!

Based on typical performance for modern offshore wind farms like Hornsea 3, which uses advanced Siemens Gamesa SG 14-236 DD turbines, a capacity factor in the range of 40% to 50% is generally expected.

So we might get wind power for half the time – with natural gas back-up for the other 7-8 GW when we don’t!

Let’s skip back to household gas prices.

“Note: Natural gas is measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh) for household consumption, not in kilograms (kg). While it is possible to convert kWh to kilograms using energy content (1 kWh ≈ 0.035 kg of natural gas), this conversion is not standard in UK energy billing or reporting.

“However, based on current market data:

· The Henry Hub natural gas price in the U.S. was $6.50 per MMBtu (million British thermal units) as of January 26, 2026.

· One kilogram of natural gas (mostly methane) contains approximately 55.5 megajoules (MJ) of energy.

· Converting this to standard units: 1 MMBtu ≈ 29.3 kWh, and 1 kg of natural gas ≈ 14.4 kWh of energy.

· Using the current price of $6.50 per MMBtu, the cost per kilogram of natural gas is approximately $0.31 (based on energy equivalence).

An average household In the UK consumes 12,000 kwh of gas per annum which works out at 12,000 / 14.4 kwh of energy equals 833 kg times $0.31cents per kg which equals US$258.33 pr annum which equals £188.56 per annum @ US$1.37/£

We can compare this £189 to the price cap imposed by OFGEM for natural gas of £840 (above) per annum (before the daily standing charge of 35p per day- .£128 per annum plus 5 per cent VAT!

Four times the price!

My recent stroke may be having lingering effects on my arithmetic!

Onwards!

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