Great Britain’s grid operator pays £10m for extra power to avoid supply crunch tonight

Great Britain's grid operator has paid about £10 million to avoid a power supply crunch on Wednesday evening.

The National Energy System Operator, known as Neso, needed extra electricity because extreme heat was putting pressure on the energy system.

Many households have been turning on air conditioning units and electric fans, which has increased demand across the country.

Neso issued a notice on Tuesday night that asked power generators to provide any extra electricity they could.

The grid operator agreed to pay about £1,400 per megawatt-hour for imported electricity from Europe.

This price was nearly 20 times higher than the average electricity market price in June last year.

The warning was cancelled on Wednesday afternoon after enough power had been secured.

A Neso spokesperson explained that extremely high temperatures were affecting both Great Britain and the European continent.

The spokesperson also said that low wind had reduced the amount of electricity produced by wind farms.

However, the government-owned body stated that the electricity supply was not at risk.

The decision to issue a warning did not mean that a blackout was going to happen.

Neso manages the energy systems in England, Scotland, and Wales.

On Tuesday evening, the operator had warned that it would need an extra 1,900 megawatts of power.

Without this extra supply, there would not be enough electricity to power homes and businesses.

The total cost of securing extra power was more than four times the usual daily average.