Written by Megan Taylor, sports reporter covering international sports since 2020
England World Cup power demand added pressure to Great Britain’s electricity system on Tuesday evening as millions watched England national football team draw 0-0 with Ghana national football team during a heatwave.
Gas power plants were paid almost £4m to generate electricity for a few hours as viewers used cooling devices and then headed for kettles, drinks and kitchen appliances at half-time and after full-time. The spike mattered because high temperatures across Europe had already raised electricity prices and reduced power plant output.
For more football tournament analysis, read World Cup Breakout Players: Five Rising Talents Catching Global Attention, while official tournament details are available through the FIFA World Cup 2026 page.
Half-Time Spike Tests The Grid
LCP Delta’s Shivam Malhotra estimated England’s match added about 300MW of demand at half-time and 225MW after the final whistle.
“Interestingly, the controversial hydration breaks during both matches did not produce a noticeable change in demand which may reflect their short duration and unfamiliar timing. While they may help TV advertisers, there isn’t a clear benefit to electricity systems by spreading out the demand surges,” he said.
Gas plants were paid up to £1,000 per megawatt-hour to raise output as solar generation faded through the evening.
“These are the prices I would expect to see at the moment; they’re at about the right level to reflect the scarcity we can see in the market,” Malhotra said.
Heatwave Raises Energy Costs
The National Energy System Operator paid about £3.85m to gas plants between 5.30pm and 10.30pm on Tuesday.
That included £2.7m for SSE’s Seabank gas plant near Bristol and £1m for Uniper’s Killingholme gas plant in North Lincolnshire. A further £2.9m was paid to top up supplies with imported electricity from Europe.
High pressure weather also cut wind generation, while about five plants reduced output because of the heat.
In France, where temperatures passed 40C, four nuclear plants lowered output as warm river water made cooling harder. Great Britain later secured around 1.7 gigawatts of imported electricity after a rare summer power supply warning.
