Overview
- On Wednesday, June 10, 2026, thinktank Common Wealth published a plan to make the National Energy System Operator the single public purchaser of electricity before it is sold to suppliers.
- The report says the current marginal pricing system lets gas set the market price most of the time even though gas supplies about a quarter of generation, a dynamic that creates windfall profits for some generators and exposes consumers to global gas shocks.
- Common Wealth estimates households could save about £185–£200 a year and projects annual system savings of £10–£16 billion by the end of the decade under its central assumptions.
- Under the proposal gas-fired plants would be moved to a strategic reserve dispatched at cost while low-carbon generators would be shifted onto power purchase agreements, a change that would require major legal, contractual and regulatory reform and negotiation with generators.
- Senior ministers have publicly backed the principle of breaking the link between gas and electricity prices but the plan remains a policy proposal and its implementation risks include complex contract talks, questions about grid reliability and the need for new procurement rules.