By Nina Chestney
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will be able to meet power and gas demand this winter, even in the event of an extreme cold snap, National Grid said in its 2018/19 winter outlook report on Thursday.
National Grid expects total gas demand to be 46.6 billion cubic metres this winter, slightly lower than last winter.
Demand for power is expected to peak in the first half of December. The so-called de-rated margin, or surplus power margin, is forecast at 7.1 gigawatts (GW), 0.9 GW more than the forecasted margin of winter 2017/18.
"For this winter, even under colder conditions than experienced in recent years, we are confident we have the right products and strategies in place to help us balance the gas and electricity networks," National Grid said.
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by Jason Neely)
