France's Nuclear Power Now Looks Smart.....

The UK is in for some rough times....

British companies are being forced to pay over four times more for their electricity this winter than competitors in France and in excess of 70 per cent more than in Germany.

The discrepancy will increase concerns that Britain's crumbling power infrastructure is a growing threat to the country's competitiveness and comes as Ofgem today announces its report into competition in the energy market.

Wholesale power prices in the UK have soared because of a squeeze in generating capacity, which is expected to leave an unusually thin margin of spare supply next month.

On Friday, the forward price of power for November reached more than £130 per megawatt hour. In France, it was about €40 (£31) per megawatt hour, according to Spectron, a supplier of energy market data. In Germany, the price stood at around €97 per megawatt hour.