by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Energy shortages in France could trigger blackouts and price rises in the UK, a Kent expert has warned.

Reports suggesting France will see a power shortfall as soon as 2013 could lead to a growing dependency on electricity imports as demand outpaces supply, particularly at peak times.

This could exert more pressure on the UK's ageing supply network and expose worrying delays in producing a new national energy strategy.

Richard Haddelsey, energy analyst for M&C Energy Group, near Sittingbourne, believes that energy will become a scarce commodity resulting in increased prices and real risks of blackouts.

The group is calling on the Government to accelerate preventative action to avoid an energy crisis and protect the UK's national energy interests.

Mr Haddelsey said: "At a time when the UK is facing its own looming energy gap, the news that our neighbours across the Channel are likely to demand imported power from us is likely to both drive up peak prices and tighten our own supply margins further.

"The UK market is linked to the Continent via inter-connectors, and so that extra power will most likely go to the highest bidder.

"The irony is that French electricity giant EDF is one of the UK's major energy providers - but is owned by the French government.

"The French taxpayer also owns 35 per cent of Gaz de France (GDF), which is looking to take over International Power, the operator of several UK power stations. The UK could have little say in where energy produced here will go."

He added that the challenge for the Coalition Government was to reduce dependency on imports.

But while there was "much talk, there seems to be little progress".