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In its plan for meeting the 2030 clean energy target published last month, the government committed to keeping a reserve capacity of gas power stations for this purpose.

"The energy system is not as reliable and with a smaller reserve capacity than it was before the targeted strikes," he said.

The reserve capacity ratio below 3% risks power shortages and blackouts.

West Burton A was slated to close last year but was kept going by the government to provide emergency reserve capacity over winter.

But executives at the Southeast utilities say their reserve capacity contributes to their higher scores in a national assessment of reliability — an increasing concern as climate change produces more extreme weather events.