Britain’s much-needed investment in new power plants will favour small-scale projects and batteries after a Government auction to secure future power supplies fell to its lowest ever level. The would-be developers of large-scale gas plants were locked out of an annual reverse auction, which cleared at its lowest ever price of £8.40 per kilowatt for the year 2021 to 2022. The auction is designed to offer the most economic power plants a contract to be on standby through the winter to help keep the lights on while limited price rises for households.