IN Brief:
- Ofgem approved an agreement to maintain import capability through the Great Britain–Belgium pipeline.
- Separate proposed licence and price-control changes would enable National Gas to recover eligible costs.
- The consultation closes on 20 November; preserving import capability does not guarantee actual gas supply.
Ofgem has approved an arrangement intended to prevent a further reduction in the capacity available to import gas from Belgium into Great Britain, while opening a separate consultation on how the associated costs should be recovered. The agreement involves National Gas Transmission and Interconnector Limited, the operator of the Britain–Belgium gas interconnector. Ofgem announced the decision on 22 October 2026. Its approval concerns the arrangements needed to retain a gas import option; the proposed changes to National Gas’s licence and financial instruments are not yet finally adopted.
The regulator says import capability through Britain’s links with continental Europe has reduced in recent years. Commercial incentives have weakened and technical capacity has also declined. The country has undersea gas interconnectors connecting it with Belgium and the Netherlands, with flows possible in either direction depending on market conditions. Although imported volumes through those routes may be modest in ordinary circumstances, available pipeline capacity can provide flexibility when demand becomes unusually high or other supply routes face pressure.
National Gas has identified an arrangement with Interconnector Limited intended to maintain import capability at the level available in winter 2025–26 for the coming winter and beyond. In its own statement, the gas transmission operator said this followed government and industry assessment of unlikely but potentially severe security-of-supply scenarios. The agreement seeks to preserve an operating option, rather than committing to move a specified quantity of gas every day. Ofgem has explicitly cautioned that retained pipeline capacity neither procures gas nor guarantees that import flows will be available in a particular emergency.
The distinction matters for energy system resilience. Transmission capacity is a physical capability subject to the assets’ technical limits and agreed operating conditions. Actual gas imports also require market participants to arrange supplies, book capacity and move the fuel through the relevant network. A pipeline that can accommodate additional imports provides a possible response in exceptional conditions, but gas must still be available on the other side and commercial or emergency arrangements must permit it to flow. The regulator’s action addresses the capacity component of that chain.
The proposed recovery mechanism would enable National Gas to recover eligible payments and costs connected with agreements to maintain or, where appropriate, reinstate import capability. Ofgem has already approved the specific Interconnector Limited agreement under its licensing arrangements, but is consulting on the financial framework needed to fund it. Responses are invited until Friday 20 November 2026. The consultation also envisages a mechanism that could support arrangements involving another continental European interconnector in future, subject to separate assessment and approvals.
Ofgem estimates that the current proposal would cost around £1.19 per domestic gas customer per year over five years, equivalent to less than 10 pence a month. It states that the cost would be collected through the gas General Non-Transmission Services charge and would not fall on households without gas. This is a projected impact of the proposed financing approach, not evidence that the charge has already been imposed or that the full costs will necessarily match estimates once a final regulatory decision has been made.
The decision is linked to the way Britain’s gas system is changing. Domestic production is declining, while future demand will reflect developments in industrial energy use, heating and electricity generation. Gas-fired power stations are among the sources of flexible generation able to support the power system at times when renewable output is low. That connection makes gas import options relevant to wider energy security, but it does not mean the regulator has awarded a new electricity generation contract or directed how often gas-fired stations should operate.
The technical case also relates to the N-1 infrastructure standard used in gas security assessment. That framework considers whether the system can continue supplying demand after the loss of its largest infrastructure element under specified extreme conditions. Maintaining the option to import through an interconnector can support resilience in such modelling, but it cannot be treated as a substitute for demonstrated available gas molecules, system pressure management or operational readiness. Ofgem has not presented the new agreement as a response to an ongoing interruption of supply.
National Gas and Ofgem describe the measure as precautionary. The regulator says the gas system continues to operate reliably and is expected to meet demand in normal conditions. The value of retaining additional capacity lies in providing a response to exceptional stress rather than correcting an identified present-day supply failure. The next formal step is consideration of consultation responses before the regulator decides whether to introduce the cost-recovery modifications. The October milestone is therefore an approved agreement on capacity, accompanied by a still-open funding consultation.
