As fingers around the UK are crossed for a sunny bank holiday weekend, power prices are “softening” according to the daily market report.

Ben Spry, Optimisation Desk Manager at npower said prompt and near curve prices for gas and electricity opened today slightly lower than last night.

He said: “If you look at the weekend, although temperatures are set to dip slightly, wind generation is set to pick up quite substantially to around by 5GW. So very comfortable over the Easter weekend, that’s why we’re seeing prices softening.”

Power supply is also very comfortable, peak margins are around 18GW.

Similarly gas prices were lower, he said: “We’re seeing the gas system forecast to close 12 mcm long and we’ve seen demand dip below 200mcm. This is on the back of these warmer climes we’re experiencing but also a drop in CCGT demand, that’s gas demand for electricity generation.”

Gas flows added to this: “We’ve seen stronger flows through the BBL pipeline into the UK this morning and also we’ve really strong output from LNG sites, so again, a very comfortable supply picture for gas this morning and that’s just pressuring those prices lower.”

As for Russian-Ukraine tensions, today they’ve had less impact: “It’s taken a little bit of a backseat in today’s and yesterday’s session, this is despite [Russian President Vladimir] Putin saying Ukraine is on the brink of civil war. So definitely something to keep an eye on but not putting that risk premium onto the markets this morning.”