WINDSOR MP Adam Afriyie talks this week about rising gas prices and its actual impact. He writes;

This week has seen a considerable amount of attention directed at gas prices. This is having whole host of knock-on effects across the country and many sectors of production. Whilst the headlines may be alarming, it should not be a great source of concern for too many.

The most obvious concern will be of rising energy bills. Clearly, if the prices remain high they will feed through to all of us eventually. In the near term, most customers will have adequate protection from any sudden spike in prices if they are on fixed rate tariffs. Many more on variable tariffs, or between contracts, will also be protected from any extortionate rise in bills. This is because the government’s price cap will help protect people from rip-off energy prices by limiting the amount that energy firms can charge you. If your energy provider is a smaller firm there is of course the risk of your energy provider collapsing. However, this should also be no cause for concern as you will simply be automatically transferred to a more reliable provider - with no interruption to supply.

So why have prices lept in this way? It seems that we are in the midst of ‘perfect storm’ conditions in the wholesale gas market. These conditions include, lower extraction rates of gas across the world, less wind which has reduced our supply of wind energy, increased demand following the end of the pandemic, and the maintenance of oil rigs in the North Sea delayed from last year.

Ordinarily it is unlikely that any one of these issues on their own would cause price spikes and supply chain issues on this scale. However, together they would put our energy network and supply chain under extreme pressure.

The Prime Minister has reiterated that these pressures will be temporary in nature - thanks goodness - so I would urge everyone not to panic and simply sit tight.