A heatwave across Europe drove electricity prices to record premiums as of 23 June 2026, with Great Britain importing power at six times normal rates, according to Guardian Business. The price surge reflects a convergence of sharply elevated air conditioning demand, reduced wind generation output, and multiple power plant outages creating acute supply constraints across continental markets.
The directly affected sectors are energy and utilities. Great Britain's power import costs rose to six times their normal rate, reflecting the acute supply-demand imbalance in wholesale electricity markets reported by Guardian Business.
The UK's National Grid issued a rare summer energy supply warning for Wednesday evening, citing elevated demand from high temperatures stressing the power generation and distribution system. This represented an unusual step for summer operations, when heating-driven winter demand spikes are the more common trigger for such warnings.
The supply constraints reported by Guardian Business stem from the simultaneous occurrence of peak cooling demand, underperforming renewable generation, and reduced conventional plant availability. SKY Business subsequently reported that Britain's grid operator called for increased power generation capacity as temperatures continued to rise across the UK and Europe on 24 June 2026.
Sources: Guardian Business, Bloomberg Markets, SKY Business