NGG - U.K. could suffer forced power cuts this winter National Grid warns

National Grid ( NYSE: NGG ) -1.9% in Thursday's trading after warning the U.K. could face planned power cuts to homes and businesses this winter if it is unable to import electricity from Europe.

In a worst case scenario, British households could lose power for as long as three hours at a time this winter if gas supplies run extremely low, but homes would face no problems as a "base case," the utility said.

The U.K. is heavily reliant on gas to produce electricity, with gas-fired power stations generating more than 40% of the country's electricity, and it imports electricity from continental Europe.

Russia has all but completely cut off gas flows to Europe, and while Russia meets just ~4% of the U.K.'s gas needs, the disruption in supply to Europe has helped drive up British prices and makes it harder for the country to secure gas from others.

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