Reminders that the Conservatives oversaw the closure of the Rough gas storage facility off the coast of East Yorkshire have been posted on social media in the wake of warnings from Centrica about “concerningly low” storage levels.
On Friday (10/1), the network operator said the UK had “less than a week of gas demand in store” due to colder-than-usual weather.
Centrica said that UK gas storage facilities are currently about half-full due to plunging temperatures and a high demand for gas-fired power stations, with “stubbornly high” gas prices making it “more difficult to top up storage”.
People have been quick to point out that the Tories closed Rough in 2017 after refusing to subsidise costly repairs.
News of the shutdown came shortly after Liz Truss started as chief secretary to the Treasury, with Labour pointing out that she didn’t do enough to protect our energy supply and keep bills down.
Speaking in 2022, the then-shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: “We are facing an energy crisis because of 12 years of Conservative failure on energy security – on renewables, on storage, on insulation and on regulating the market.
“Liz Truss needs to urgently explain what her involvement was in shutting down the Rough gas storage facility and plummeting the UK into close to zero storage stocks.
“The decision shows a blatant disregard from this government to protect our energy supply and keep bills down.”
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