By Joe Hoppe

The U.K.'s electricity system operator, or ESO, has stood down two coal units that were on standby to provide emergency power as the country battles sub-zero temperatures.

Earlier in the day, National Grid's electricity system operator said the two winter contingency coal units owned by the energy company Drax would be available if needed as temperatures fell and demand rose.

This measure should give the public confidence in Monday's energy supply. This notification is not confirmation that these units will be used on Monday, but that they will be available to the ESO, if required," the operator said in a statement earlier today.

The coal plants were set to only operate on instructions from the National Grid, and Drax would have not been allowed to sell the electricity on the open market, though it will be paid a fee for the service and compensated for costs incurred.

"The ESO as a prudent system operator has these tools for additional contingency to operate the network as normal and the public should continue to use energy as normal," ESO said.

At the same time, U.K. power prices hit record levels on Sunday, as the cold snap and a fall in supplies of electricity generated by wind power combined to push up wholesale costs, RBC Capital Markets analysts said in a research note.

"The cold snap is likely to cause volatility in power prices in the near term and we continue to pay close attention to storage levels across Europe," RBC said.

The Met Office has issued yellow warnings for snow and ice for parts of the U.K. until Thursday.

Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 12, 2022 08:11 ET (13:11 GMT)

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