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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much natural gas was used in the UK in the last year for which figures are available; how much was burned in power stations; how much was used for domestic and industrial heating; and what the effect of the latest price increase was on the cost of gas fired electricity generation in pence per kilowatt hour. [195700] Mr. Mike O'Brien: In 2003, a total of 1,110 TWh (Terawatt hours) of natural gas was used in the UK, of which 325 TWh was burned in power stations to produce electricity, 386 TWh was consumed for domestic use and 172 TWh was used in industry. There are no official data collected on the proportions of gas used for heating, however recent studies by the Building Research Establishment show that an estimated three quarters of domestic natural gas consumption is used for space heating. Previous studies have suggested that around 15 per cent. of industrial use of gas is for space heating purposes. The DTI publish data on the average prices of fuels purchased by the major UK power producers in its Quarterly Energy Prices publication. In Quarter 2 2004, the average price of natural gas purchased by the major UK power producers was 0.683p/kWh, 1 per cent. higher than the equivalent period of the year before. By adjusting for the efficiency of combined cycle gas turbine stations, this equates to a cost of approximately 1.2p/kWh for electricity generated from such plants. We expect costs to power producers for electricity to be about 0.2p/kWh higher in Quarter 3, due to increases in the wholesale price of gas.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

195700; 426 c1622-3W;426 c1625-6W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Costs Consumption Electricity generation Heating Natural gas Prices

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk