The National Grid has today warned of a shortfall in the UK's gas supply.

This morning the organisation issued a 'gas deficit warning' in response to high gas demand and extreme weather conditions.

National Grid's media team tweeted that the warning was "...an indication to the market that we’d like more gas to be made available to ensure the safe and reliable operation of the national gas network".

The government said that households should not notice any disruption to their supply, but experts are warning that industrial users could experience interruptions to their gas supply.

Mike Foster, Chief Executive of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, said that the organisation had been warning the government for years that a potential gas supply crisis could occur.

He said: "When the government gave permission to Centrica to close the Rough gas storage facility, we again warned them about just this scenario. Prices have rocketed, hitting British industry particularly hard and if supply is interrupted, it will be the industry that has to stop production to protect consumers and their heating needs.

"Ironically, there is a meeting planned with the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in two weeks’ time, as a result of our lobbying for a full review of UK gas storage to be undertaken. Perhaps this time they will listen to us.

"The closure of Rough has changed the landscape for UK gas storage and today that landscape looks very bleak for major energy users such as UK manufacturing industry.”