Do you think we will have electricity/gas rationing this winter?

[lonelyapple]

Apparently the Government have assessed a "reasonable worst case scenario" which would involve rationing electricity to 6 million homes this winter if Russia cuts off further gas supplies to Europe.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/power-cuts-energy-bills-russia-b2090163.html

What a lovely dystopian present we are living in :(.

YANBU = Yes, there will be power cuts/utility rationing.
YABU = Nope, it won't happen, the Tories are excellent at planning for such contingencies (joke).

Even with gas central heating many of the boilers, pumps, switches are electric….

To be honest, if your lot hadn't made such a mess of the last 12 years, Labour wouldn't have anything to sort out.

Austerity has left this country so ill prepared and whilst Labour started the planning process for Hinkley C, it is the Conservatives who delayed its start and is over seeing its over budget and behind schedule build.... and despite being in power for 12 years, they have yet to commission any new power stations.

Pardon the pun but its shocking.

Lottsbiffandsmudge

I agree completely, it's the posters that try and belittle others and justify it by saying how fun it was in the 70's and all you need is a thermos and a jumper. If it happens it won't be a jolly it will be fucking shit. Of course parents will dress it up as an adventure to not worry the kids but it will still be shit.

Its fine though, we can spend our days riding around on buses to stay warm.

I agree. Its a shame the group campaigning for just this thing were widely criticised and had people aim their anger at them.

I certainly don't view our experience in the 70s with any nostalgia. As adults on a small budget with a young baby it was difficult and worrying. But equally you cannot dismiss lived experience as irrelevant because it was fifty years ago.
You prepare, you plan, you make alternative arrangements within the resources available to you.

gridwatch.co.uk/

All the stats here

No I don't think that there will be cuts like the 70s
We have more wind power now

It's looking quite likely. I think we're going to see a big take-up in solar panels.

If they power is turned off for 25% of the day, do you think they'll reduce the standing charges by at least 25%?

This could be a big problem for the large number of people who now work from home. My DH works from home and runs 2 PCs and obviously the Internet router is plugged in. This will be the case for a lot of people nowadays.

If it was 3 hours a day and only overnight it wouldn't be too bad.

It's going to happen across Europe too.

Our ancestors didn't have all this here electricity and they survived
Survived is relative. A lot of people didn't survive, depending how far back you go... life expectancy between 1770 and 1870 was between 25 and 35 years old.

It won't be rationed overnight, that is not how the national Grid works.

A relatively steady amount of power is produced 24/7 and there is surplus produced at night, this is why we have economy tariffs (eg economy 7) historically used by people with electric heating, but now used by people with home car chargers. Then there are special surge power stations (first hydro/electric mountain North Wales) which 'bank' surplus power in order to provide a sudden burst of energy into the grid at times of extreme demand (half time in the FA cup final when everyone puts them kettle on).

What will happen is more people will end up being expected to work night shifts, so that energy heavy industries can make that most of the night time surplus, and cheaper energy.

The rationing will be at peak times, morning and evening. Which will be inconvenient for cooking dinner, sitting in the cold, using handheld devices for entertainment (charged at night) etc.

Netflix will probably get another resurgence as people will want to download stuff onto tablets to watch as they huddle in bed in the dark in the evening

I’d be concerned. We need the fridge for medication. I’d worry if our electricity was turned off for too long.

It is very worrying for people with health problems, most likely if they switch of at peak times it would maybe be about 4 hours, could you get a small cool box/bag and ice packs with a small fridge thermometer to check temperature and maybe put it outside somewhere or in a garage

Or just not open your fridge during the power cut, fridges are designed to stay cool for quite some time in the event of no power.

I guess we will have to look into the options in case it happens. It’s insulin that needs to be refrigerated or it won’t work. Scary times but I appreciate others have medical needs for electricity that outweigh ours.

Missing point of thread, but if you fill an egg cup with water and freeze it, then lie a penny on top of it and pop it back in the freezer you can tell whether the freezer has defrosted/refrozen while power is off (as you aren't supposed to open it) - if the penny has dropped to the bottom of the egg cup then you know that the freezer was effected by the power cut.

They are currently building more "pipes" from off shore wind farms that connect to electricity storage hubs on shore
I know of a couple of these that are in progress

The National grid also has resilience built into it

Most sensible people, especially those who are low earners and prudent with their income, are already used to rationing gas and electricity. So this is nothing new to me and others in a similar position.

And FWIW, only 4% of gas supply in UK comes from Russia.

Well they can’t that would be the issue, when they did it before people could only work abd be paid for 3 days.

One interesting aspect of the winter 73/74 crisis was that TV were banned from broadcasting after 10:30pm, so everybody went to bed. There was a significant baby boom nine months later! Those approaching their 48th birthday in late summer/autumn this year - it could be you!