Coal regulations push Britain to ‘near-crisis’ of energy costs, supplies

Britain is facing an energy shortage that will see household costs for heat and light rise by as much as 60 percent, according to one industry regulator.

Alistair Buchanan, chief executive of Ofgem and the outgoing head of the regulator, did not put a number in a Telegraph report on just how high costs would climb for households, but he did indirectly indicate price increases of up to 60 percent. Gas prices rose by 60 percent in Japan, he said, and that country doesn’t even have its own supply source, The Telegraph reported.

Similarly, Britain will be forced to look for outside nations for energy sources in the next couple years, he said, in The Telegraph. Why?

European Union pollution laws are forcing the United Kingdom to shut down coal plants, The Telegraph reports. And few alternative energy sources have been developed.

Britain will be facing a “near-crisis” between 2015 and 2018, Mr. Buchanan said in The Telegraph. “No new nuclear, no new clean coal, no new carbon capture this side of 2020,” he predicted in the report. “So we’ll lean on gas and gas will account for about 60 percent of our power station needs instead of 30 percent as it does today.”

Meanwhile, President Obama’s ongoing push against coal-fired plants has led to substantial changes in America’s energy sector.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a huge drop in power sector coal consumption, from 45 percent to 36 percent — and that was in mid-2012, according to Fox News. At the same time — and in line with what’s taken place in Britain — few other sources of energy have been constructed in the nation.