The aging energy infrastructure has caused Britain to face some serious power shortages in the next four years as warned by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), the United Kingdom’s chief energy regulator.

Due to the inadequate investment in renewable energy and the aging power plants that are scheduled for shut down in 2015, the country will be at the mercy of the volatile gas market.

After assessing four energy scenarios, Ofgem concluded that the UK will have to increase its gas imports by 2015, when coal-fired power plants are scheduled for shutdown.

The nuclear power plants that are meant to replace them will not be built until 2017.  And the two-year lag time will not be satisfied sufficiently by renewable resources as much investment and planning has not taken place in this field.  This will make the country over reliant on a global oil market where there is too much demand and too many supply disruptions.

In order to solve the issue and catch up, Britain needs to invest $319.96 billion (£200 billion) in its energy infrastructure.

According to the report, there is a high likelihood of rising consumer bills, especially if oil and gas prices continue their underlying rise since 2003, given the massive levels of investment needed.

However, the good news is that emissions will drop by 12 to 43 percent below 2005 levels.