London (Platts)--22Feb2013/829 am EST/1329 GMT

Prompt power rallied to five-week highs Friday morning tracking similar highs on the NBP gas market and ahead of low forecast wind generation over the coming week, market sources said.

On the OTC market day-ahead baseload was last heard GBP2.70 higher on day at GBP54/MWh while peakload gained the same value to GBP59.50/MWh midday.

"Gas has really gone North," a trader said, and added that the N2EX auction for Saturday baseload outturned "excessively high for a Saturday" at GBP55.25/MWh against GBP51/MWh pre-auction on the OTC market.

"From there, everything picked up," he added.

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Strong gains on the power market followed bullish NBP gas prices which pushed higher following rising demand associated with colder than average temperatures. Market sources add that the gas supply-side is still falling short of demand despite strong withdrawals from medium-range storage which has prompted concern over future storage levels should colder temperatures persist.

Day-ahead NBP gas last traded before midday at 70.70 p/th, up by 1.45 p/th from Thursday's close, its highest level since January 17, Platts data shows.

The day-ahead baseload price of GBP54/MWh is the highest seen since January 16 when the contract settled at GBP54.45/MWh at close according to Platts price data.

Temperatures in London are reportedly 6 degrees Celsius below the seasonal norm of 3-9 degrees C Friday and will remain 5 C under the average over the weekend and between 2-4 C below the norm over week 10, according to CustomWeather forecasts.

In addition, the UK is expected to rely more heavily on costly gas-fired power generation next week as wind power output slumps between 1-1.5 GW over much of the coming week, the trader said.

Weekend baseload was last heard midday at GBP1.20 higher at GBP51.50/MWh, while week 9 baseload rose GBP1.25 to GBP51.25/MWh midday.

At midday gas-fired generation contributed 17.4 GW (or 34.8%) while coal-fired power was pegged just shy of 20 GW (or 39.5%). Nuclear power and continental power imports eased slightly to 8 GW (or 15.9%) and 1.5 GW (or 5%) respectively.

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