To switch off the power at 10pm tomorrow night

[Narwhalelife]

Just seen this on Instagram.

I’m at the stage anything has to be worth it. Il probably do it, it’s just as I go to bed anyway so why not.

I’m not suggesting it will solve the issue, but might piss a few people off?

Anyone else?

@SpringsSprung

Honestly!!! It's like eating laundry pods and saying "It sends a message to Bold" whilst vomiting your guts up! 🤦🏼‍♀️

Disclaimer: DO NOT EAT LAUNDRY PODS!!

It's nothing at all like that though, is it?

Weird that you thought that little nugget of nothing warranted an additional post!

@User843976

There was a graph posted earlier which shows a dip but it was a bit pointless as there were no comparable graphs from other times so no control samples, so meaningless.

I agree - you need more graphs to compare.

It did seem to show a sudden dip at 10pm though compared to a gradual decline.

[quote Designerly]@SpringsSprung
Maybe you came to it via TikTok (I wouldn't know, I dont use it) but I can assure you it is bigger than that. By the way haven't you realised that TikTok is a medium, you might as well have said 'it is just a Newspaper trend' or ' it is just a telephone trend'. And please don't adopt a supercilious attitude with your 'grow up' comment - maybe you have a cynical view of life and other peoples efforts, but I remain optimistic that change can be made by collective actions.[/quote]
It was a figure of speech. I don't use TikTok either but clips from it get shared everywhere. It's not bigger than that anyway! How is it!? All switching off does is SAVE the electricity providers money! 🤣

[quote Narwhalelife]@Cumbriangal we are all ears for your ideas. Unless of course you support the price rises of literally everything[/quote]
Don't have any meaningful ideas, would love wages to treble and bills to halve but it ain't going to happen.
I'm fortunate that 18 months ago I chose to upgrade my boiler from a 15 year old D rated model to an AA type which has saved me quite a lot and will continue to do so.
I have energy saving bulbs, wear a jumper in the house if it's cold,
This Evening I switched off all of my electronic devices after boiling water for a flask of tea, I took the flask to an elderly neighbour 5 doors down who doesn't get many visitors,
We had a cup of tea each (Mine) several biscuit (Hers) and talked about people in Ukraine, Syria, Palestine, Yemen and many more places who were suffering more than we were.
It all seemed to make causing unnecessary problems for Energy Companies pretty trivial and First World really but then what would we know?

@Narwhalelife

I am curious though, through what means do people think such action should be communicated?

I’m being serious, this issue aside, for those who sneered at this, are you happy with the state of the country at the moment?

And if you are not, what would it take for you to say enough is enough?

Genuinely curious.

Also if the BBC news had suggested it (🙄) or Boris had said it was the only way to bring down prices (🙄🙄) would more have you taken part?

I think Martin Lewis seems to be the voice on this area at the moment

I’ve had a think about this today and really, it does seem to benefit the energy company. I can’t quite figure out who has organised it and think it’s not actually a very effective protest. It feels a bit manipulated to me, but that’s just me.
It might save me some money if I did it regularly but I don’t think it’ll benefit me any other way.

@ConfusedByDesign

I’ve had a think about this today and really, it does seem to benefit the energy company. I can’t quite figure out who has organised it and think it’s not actually a very effective protest. It feels a bit manipulated to me, but that’s just me. It might save me some money if I did it regularly but I don’t think it’ll benefit me any other way.

I don't think it's about saving money (it is only 10 minutes after all) - I don't think it's even about disruption to the grid; I think it's more to do with sending a message to the government. If it gathers momentum and that dip on the usage becomes steeper every week that's a very clear message to the powers that be (pardon the pun!) that there's unrest amongst the public. That 'dip' represents pissed off people - enough to cause disruption? Maybe not at the moment, but imagine in weeks/months to come, if more and more people join in with this tiny protest and in addition to the 10 minute switch-off people ramped it up and delayed, or cancelled their council tax/energy payments?

People got together and made a difference with the poll tax, and that was without the power of social media to organise themselves. This isn't about 'just' sitting in the dark for 10 minutes - it'll ramp up, the more pissed off people get.

The electricity suppliers are private companies.

The government has nothing to do with electricity generation, transmission or supply in the UK (unless individuals hold shares).

If the energy usage of the uk changes from the forecast the generators and suppliers make MORE money.

The forecasters also use social media,

How many people who did this have actually written to their MP, literally sending the government a message?

@lemmein I’ve thought about all that. It will take some proper protests to change things.
This could go one of two ways. Either this empowers people so they’re willing to fight a cause and do more or they feel they’re doing their bit already so when things get worse (further price hikes later in the year? Job losses as people stop spending and companies need to make staff cuts to save money? People really struggling to feed their families?) they don’t feel the need to do anything further.
Let’s see how much help the government are going to give people.