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.

I don’t think you need to start eating down your freezer but many preppers make sure they have a good balance of cooked foods and uncooked foods in their freezer. That way if the power goes off to the extent that the food will spoil they are not trying to cook lots and lots of items at once.

I don't think households will lose power but businesses may be asked to restrict usage.

Do people think it’s as likely here as Germany?

or that U.K. will suffer high prices but still have supply

I'm not in the uk and here there are talks if rationing.

in addition we have been asked to save energy at home if we can. small sensible things like timing showers, putting the fridge temperature to 6 degrees, not running air conditioners.

shops are not allowed to run heating or air conditioning if they leave the door open. companies are advised to switch of personal computers ouf of working hours and to switch off lights where not needed.

I think they’ll manage it though. It will go off in the evenings and at night.

But if there are planned outages, obviously try to keep the freezer and fridge shut as much as possible during them.

Thanks everyone! :)

@MarshaBradyo my understanding is Germany is more dependent on supply but price increases will impact us.

The problem with the National Grid in the UK is all about (the lack of) storage. Essentially the only storage systems are a couple of pumped hydro schemes. The issue is that renewables may be producing more power than we are consuming - some is passed to Ireland and Europe via cables but is otherwise "lost". The reverse applies when renewables are not in action (essentially no wind) - the national gird then imports power via cables and fire up more gas power plants. If there a very calm wind wise, but cold period in the winter there can be a real scramble for electricity. The idea in the past (70s) was that the base load would be met by nuclear power - and at night storage heaters and large industry (aluminium smelting etc) would take up the load that wasn't needed. As many of the UK's nuclear power stations came off line at the end of their life and new ones were not built this plan is dead.

And Germany has, I think, similar issues except they completely ditched nuclear and made themselves very dependent on their Russian pipeline with no contingency plan.

They run off a leisure battery. Which you would also have to buy and keep charged or they die. The fridges are not cheap, are generally about the size of a shoebox (ok, two shoeboxes!) and they’d drain a leisure battery in a few hours. They work most efficiently on gas, which you will need to connect them to as well as the battery and gas bottles have been like hens teeth for a few years.

It would be easier to buy one of the new ecoflow/Jackery/Oakley systems. These are a large battery in a black box which you can charge by mains, car or solar power and has all the right internal gubbins and sockets for you then to just plug in what you need. It would not power a domestic fridge freezer for long unless you bought a massive one, I imagine.

Ecoflow are newest and charge fastest. I want one for the camper.

At the risk of stating the obvious

1. they are a battery and have limited capacity. They will not support a big power draw for very long, or anything at all indefinitely

2. Although they are black boxes and very easy to use, they do come in different sizes. Do not buy the cheapest one and then wonder why it won’t power your fridge! Anything that heats or cools uses A LOT of power. If you want to cook or refrigerate, you need at least 2000 watts. The Ecoflow Delta can do that (for an hour or so) for about two thousand pounds. The pic (which I think is the Delta Pro for about £2600) gives an idea of what it can power.

Apologies for the Noddy explanation, but it is apparent from my camper-vanning experience that few people have the faintest idea about how to get power out of a battery and what you can expect, or how much power everyday things actually use!

For anyone with disabilities running equipment, I’d definitely look at one. I would not rely on the current government to prioritise anyone but themselves in a crisis. They will put businesses before homes, just as they did in covid. And they will put wealthy homes before poorer ones (and lie about it).

Yes I agree

I think we are facing slightly different issues

High prices will impact here but not necessarily towards rationing - beyond natural decrease in demand due to price

Maybe others feel differently and we will but I’m not sure

I have been planning on installing a log burner here for three years. I finally hope to be able to pull the trigger on it next week, and when I was speaking to them today, they said they are normally super-quiet in summer, manic in September (for obvious reasons). They are running at September levels of business. In July.

If you can afford to keep freezers running then I wouldn't eat it down. If there were an unplanned power outage that lasted that long (that can happen anyway) then check whether your home or contents insurance covers it. Also, power companies should compensate you . Easiest to post a relevant link: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/energy/energy-supply/problems-with-your-energy-supply/get-compensation-if-you-have-a-power-cut/

So it really isn't in power companies best interests to leave people without power for prolonged amounts of time.

Keep the fridge and freezer shut while the electric is off and it will be fine for a few hours.

Unless you're thinking of ditching the freezer entirely, better to keep it fairly full I'd have thought.(even if only with bread) - they're less efficient and would heat up faster when part empty.

Definitely Errol, during the extreme heat we filled spare space in our freezer with 3/4 full water bottles to keep it cold for longer in case we lost power.

23?!! Good lord, mine is on at 18 permanently.
If too cold, chuck on a hoody.
If too hot, take off said hoody.

SImples

I don't think there will be domestic power cuts.

These were fairly common when I was growing up.
lots of candles, a camping stove and onesies (we didn’t have latter, then). It was fine. As kids, quite exciting.

This is what worries me. If there were planned outages we have some equipment that we could ensure were charged up, but we also have other equipment that need continuous mains supply. In theory, we are on the priority list, but I know in some areas that suffered prolonged outages due to storms that didn’t mean much, especially in the first few days.

Yes, I do.
I think that because it seems very clear it will happen in Europe.
Although we are less dependent on Putins gas than they are, we are also far less organised & prepared. Our Govt is reactive not proactive (see recent Belgain exp)

So, yes, I think there is every chance it will be both an unnecessarily 'disasterous' winter & an expensive one to boot. Like the handling of Covid (& just about everyting else this Govt touches). I am rural Scotland & disabled & I'm worried.

I suspect those who think there won’t be power cuts are perhaps a bit younger and haven’t lived through it before? It’s easy and comforting to think something will never happen. Only a few years ago people would have thought a worldwide killer pandemic and lockdowns would never happen..

Any energy rationing that's needed, if it's needed at all, will be targeted at the business market long before the residential market. Large commercial users of power and gas have clauses in their contracts allowing rationing if supplies are tight for whatever reason.

I really wouldn't worry about domestic supplies being cut back, although being prepared for a power cut is no bad thing due to potential storm damage as has happened in some areas previously.

No not at all we had power cuts growing up

I’m questioning why people are drawing on Germany when our situation is different wrt supply

I’d like to know rationale for thinking there will be cuts

High prices mean we will limit use but not necessarily ration as Germany is

I’m not saying we definitely won’t just understanding why