At Encirc’s glass plant in northwest England, molten glass drops through chutes and into moulds around the clock — a process that depends on huge furnaces and even bigger electricity bills.
“We’re paying a lot more energy costs than our European competitors,” said Oliver Harry, Encirc’s head of corporate affairs, as he warned that higher costs were pushing some customers toward cheaper imports, including from China and Türkiye.
Britain has some of the highest energy prices in Europe, largely because of its heavy reliance on natural gas and the cost of upgrading the power system as the country shifts toward renewables.
Energy-intensive sectors — including steel, chemicals, glass and cement — say existing support still leaves them at a disadvantage.
The government has pledged to increase discounts on electricity network charges to 90 percent from April 2026, a move it says will save around 500 of the most energy-intensive firms up to £420 million a year.
Steel producers, already under pressure after the closure of traditional blast furnaces in recent years, argue the gap with European rivals remains wide.
U.K. Steel says British producers continue to face electricity costs up to 25 percent higher than competitors in France and Germany, calling for stronger protections to keep investment from drifting overseas.
Analysts say the U.K.’s pricing model also plays a role: under the “marginal” market system, the last power plant turned on to meet demand often sets the price — and in Britain that is frequently a gas-fired station. With gas prices spiking after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, power costs surged and have remained elevated even after wholesale prices eased.
Executives at Encirc say the squeeze is hitting just as heavy industry is being asked to decarbonize faster.
Harry said the company aims to cut the carbon footprint of its bottles sharply by the end of the decade, but warned that investment is harder to justify when energy costs outpace competitors’.
