The UK is planning on running short on natural gas this coming winter, resulting in blackouts, according to Bloomberg sources familiar with the government’s plans—even with emergency coal-fired power plants in operation. The UK, under its “reasonable worst-case scenario”, is planning on exceptionally cold weather, necessitating energy conservation measures that will include organized blackouts across four days this coming January. While this is not the UK’s base case scenario, the reasonable worst-case scenario shines a light on the growing concern in Europe for what it will face if it heads into winter without meeting its gas storage goals to carry it through. The blackouts could happen precisely at the time when the cap on default energy tariffs in the UK surpasses $4,860 for the first time ever—more than double what it is now. Under its emergency plan, the UK’s network operator responsible for directing UK gas flows would temporarily […]