British electricity prices could hinder switch to green technology, says steel industry

Within hours of polls in the UK general election closing, Tata Steel will tap the last iron from one of its two blast furnaces at Port Talbot in south Wales. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

British electricity prices were double those paid in France and Spain in the spring, with the steel industry saying the disadvantage could hinder UK efforts to switch to greener technology.

UK companies paid nearly £66 per megawatt hour (MWh) for wholesale electricity in the second quarter of 2024, well over double the French and Spanish equivalents in the same period, according to analysis of industry data by the lobby group UK Steel.