[adamm255]

Time to decouple the UK Electricity price from Gas so we can actually reap the benefits of this as a consumer.

[trebligdivad]

It effectively decouples for any period when no gas is needed; so if those batteries let you turn off the gas generators for an hour the price decouples from gas.

[u02sgb]

Think OP is taking about UK bills which are coupled too the cost of gas for historical reasons. Which needs to change in my view too.

[ZeroGravitas]

The only sensible way to do this I've heard is to roll out more renewables faster and so burn less gas.

Is there some other plans you support?

[SideburnsOfDoom]

While this is worthwhile, I think that the parent post may be referring more to the "UK Electricity price" to consumers, and how this is calculated. It is related, but not quite the same as "roll out more renewables faster and so burn less gas"

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/20/why-the-uks...

> "If we actually paid the average price of what our electricity now costs to produce, our bills would be substantially cheaper."

> In simple terms: the price in the electricity market on any given day is dictated by the most expensive source of generation available, which in the UK would be its gas-fired power plants.

I support "roll out more renewables faster" and pricing reform. Linked article makes it clear that the UK has "one of the most expensive electricity markets in the world" and this impacts consumers and businesses.

Which does raise the question: who benefits from the current pricing arrangement, and why do they have the deciding vote?

[skippyboxedhero]

Rolling out more renewables faster will mean more reliance on gas.

I am not sure how people still don't realise this after ten years of doing this and energy prices going up non-stop.

[jacquesm]

That will never happen. They'll use that excuse until the very last gas powered plant is alive and then there will immediately be some other reason why energy prices have to stay the way they are.

[octo888]

Precisely this!

[boredpudding]

Does the UK not have an option for hourly-pricing? That's usually where as a consumer you can have the most gains. In the summer, with solar panels, my energy bill is negative (in The Netherlands)

[0rdinal]

Some suppliers (e.g., Octopus Energy) offer half-hourly tariffs whose rates track the day-ahead wholesale market and are published daily. Prices usually fall when supply is abundant (e.g., windy/sunny periods)

Day ahead pricing: https://agileprices.co.uk/ National grid supply/demand and energy mix: https://grid.iamkate.com/

[rcxdude]

Yes, but the hourly price is still largely set by gas, because it's still a minority of the time where renewables are supplying 100% of the grid.

[Havoc]

The UK has a stupid system where the pricing for everything is determined by the most expensive thing in the mix:

>The UK’s electricity market operates using a system known as “marginal pricing”. This means that all of the power plants running in each half-hour period are paid the same price, set by the final generator that has to switch on to meet demand, which is known as the “marginal” unit.

i.e. if you have 99 units of solar but have 100 demand, 1 unit of gas plant fires up to fill it then all 100 units are compensated at the gas rate even if the wind was cheap.

[Kognito]

We do, but I can’t imagine it’s hugely popular. Only a few of the smaller suppliers offer it AFAIK.

[myrmidon]

You do realize that this is coupled with a 450MW gas power plant?

Gas is a really appealing backup option for both renewable and nuclear powered grids (at least in the absence of freely available hydropower).

But as installed power/capacity grows and batteries get cheaper, reliance on gas will hopefully decrease (and supply might get bolstered by renewable-powered synthgas within the next decades).

[cjrp]

It's more about the negative effect that using gas has on the wholesale price of energy; electricity prices are determined by the most expensive source at that point in time. So we either need to get gas usage to 0, or change how that wholesale price is calculated in order to see a consumer benefit.

[stuaxo]

Its attached to the national grid, so surely it can also charge of the grid as needed too.