Britain is likely to face energy shortages over the next seven years because of the number of nuclear and coal power stations coming to the end of their lives.

That's the warning from energy consultancy Inceno, which claims there would be a gap between the old stations coming out of service and the new generation of nuclear powered plants announced by the government earlier this year.

"We believe that demand overtakes supply somewhere between 2012 and 2015, creating a serious 'generation gap'," said Michael Abbott, deputy managing director at Inenco.

The organisation claims the amount of power lost through coal and nuclear plant closures by 2012 at more than 10 gigawatts, or a seventh of the UK's total capacity.