Centrica gets green light to boost capacity

THE Competition Commission has allowed Scottish Gas-owner Centrica to increase the share of capacity it can buy at its huge North Sea Rough storage site.

In January, the authority had provisionally rejected the utility's bid to relax rules, also called undertakings, dating from 2003 on operating Britain's largest gas storage site in a way that did not infringe competition laws.

But the body agreed yesterday to allow Centrica to increase its participation in buying storage capacity at the site and take part in its primary sales process during the 12-month period starting October 2012, as the company starts to make plans for gas purchases over that time.

A spokesman for the firm said: "Centrica Storage welcomes the increased flexibility that the final decision brings and are now working with the Competition Commission to amend the current undertakings."

Rough, which can cover some 10 per cent of Britain's peak-day gas demand, is in the North Sea about 20 miles off the east coast of Yorkshire.