Will there be power cuts or energy rationing in autumn winter?

[cherrypiepie]

A friend mentioned this is likely. Is it and how do I prep.

Have a gas hob and a log fire, bought an power bank for devices (phone) but not sure what this actually means and will it happen? How do I prep?

I'm thinking like the winter of discontent? Before I was born so not really sure what is going to happen ir if I have got mixed up.

I'm putting and other £100 aside for energy bills. This time last year it was £66 a month now it £115. Sure it's will go up again.

This is our situation. We have a very large south facing roof. We wanted to install a 9kw solar array. We anticipate using practically all of it since we have high usage (business also run from the property in a separate building).

We were told no. You’d think they’d want the excess electricity but no thanks. We then said ok we will restrict the system so that nothing feeds back. Nope. Still not allowed to make our own electricity

Sorry, my post was supposed up quite the previous one about solar

Ffs! Typos and quote fails galore! I might go Back to bed

I understand we get around 5% of gas from Russia. With the cost of fuel drastically increasing, I think most people will be naturally reducing their consumption as they'll be worried about bills. Therefore, we could easily use less than what we get from Russia.

It isn’t about what we get from Russia. It’s about what the rest of the world previously got from Russia and is now trying to get elsewhere, thus increasing demand for non Russian power And pushing up the prices.

The problem is lack of storage capacity, I think. We can make lots of energy when it's sunny and/or windy but we've no way to store it all for when it's needed. Gas is a way of storing energy until it's needed.

I have one of these

www.amazon.co.uk/Emergency-Rechargeable-Charger-Flashlight-RunningSnail-Red-088/dp/B07PM3K342

It's a clockwork radio / torch / USB charger, as well as hand winding it has a small solar panel.

I'm on my own so a torch and a book are al I need for a few hours.

I can remember the 3 day week and the power cuts in the 1970s, people did know when the power would go off.

I seem to remember TV going of at 10pm,

Our usage will likely lower due to high prices

Is it the case we will have supply? but where it could be difficult is cost of using energy

And does this differ to Germany who may not have supply

@Emarjha I agree. Barring a special need, it needs to become socially unacceptable to heat your home in winter to the point you can walk around in a t-shirt. I wish power could be rationed to those most in need though I know it's not always that easy.

It isn’t though because we no longer have our gas storage facilities. You used to see sites everywhere in the 70s/80s. Now even the larger facilities have been decommissioned. We can’t store it even if we wanted to, at least no more than about a days worth

Thank you.

That was interesting, thanks for sharing! Where I'm from, they had rolling blackouts which is planned like a brownout but full outage like a black out in constrained areas within the grid. I wouldn't be surprised if those happened too.

"tbh I’m not sure why they haven’t already cut street lighting. Even cutting every other lamppost would make an enormous difference"

@User952539 for several years the town I live in has turned off street lights at midnight.

That’s really good. Why can’t they roll that out everywhere?! I know people will bang in about safety but honestly we manage it in the countryside and there’s enough lighting being emitted from peoples houses and passing traffic anyway.

Bang on about safety

tbh in London safety of women is a factor

I'm not overly worried but I have a camping stove, my work is classified as an essential building so has priority, can charge devices there. I also have a wonderbag which I highly recommend to save fuel - you brown off meat and veg, bring your liquid/stock to the boil on a stove the put the whole pan into the bag and seal up - then leave for a few hours, no more energy required. Ideal for camping too. It's a modern version of a haybox cooker

That's insane, and must be so frustrating. Is it local planning department that are stopping you?

As far as storage goes, why the hell are the govt pushing electric cars when we don't/won't have the infrastructure or power for them all? Why the hell hasn't the govt addressed the issue of electricity storage in the 12 years they have had? This isn't something nobody could have forseen. Their green agenda, like the rest of their policies, is completely useless.

The issue is that without some form storage you can’t pump more electricity into the grid that’s there is demand for it. Solar panels generate power in the day, and maximum output mid morning to early afternoon, when electricity demand is generally at its lowest unless there’s significant industrial demand in the vicinity. When demand is highest then solar output is low or zero. The same issue, to a lesser extent, exists with wind, though at least some power is generated at night, if it’s windy.

grid.iamkate.com

My Dh wants to buy an inverter.

What about all those people who work from home and power cuts. This is what I’m wondering.

I think that people will radically reduce their energy usage to adapt to the the inflated energy prices and this will go some way to reduce demand and the chance of blackouts - so long as we don't have a severe winter.

Although we have a home battery with an energy power supply function so we would be able to mitigate short outages.

Emergency power supply function.

Should we start eating the food from the freezer and investing in canned / cupboard goods in case we don’t have electricity to power the fridge & chest freezer?

(sorry if that’s a daft question!)

It's incredibly unlikely that there will be outages so long that your freezer will defrost