Regulator Warns of Dearer Gas for UK

The outgoing chief of Britain's energy regulator has warned of higher gas prices, while saying that renewable sourcs of energy cannot deliver in current economic conditions.

Alistair Buchanan, head of Ofgem (Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets), said Britain will have to import more gas to meet its energy needs, and much of this will be relatively expensive imports from Europe and Russia.

Buchanan told the BBC that Britain "would be very tight on power station capacity in three to five years time."

"We're going to have to go shopping in world markets at a time when they will be very tight [on supplies] themselves," he said.

"There isn't a single person or people to blame. In my view it was a single event - the financial crisis. Before the financial crisis the government had backed a visionary approach to energy on wind, water and nuclear... then came the financial tsunami."

He is to step down from Ofgem later this year.

The Daily Telegraph noted that the average British household energy bill is now more than £1,400 (€1,610) a year. Prices have risen by almost a fifth in the past four years.