Power blackouts- why not during the day? *MNHQ editing to say this has become a more general power outage chat*

[BoobBoobBaby]

I’ve been reading about the proposed plan for power blackouts and they’re saying 4-7 on week days. Why then? Surely longer blackouts during the day, when we don’t need lights and kids are at school and most people are at work would be better? Or even 10pm-6am when most people are sleeping? Or is it because we don’t use much electricity then, so they’re picking peak times? I just don’t understand why those specific times? does anyone know?

4-7 is peak demand time, they'll switch off the power to some people so we aren't all using it at once

How would kids be in school and people be in work if there was no electricity?
Why would turning off power in residential areas make a saving if people aren’t using it anyway?

its because that is when household usage is greatest

Or even 10pm-6am when most people are sleeping?

What would be the point in that? Do you understand the point of potential outages?

How you going to work or kids be in school with no electricity? Usage needs to be cut at peak time to make a difference, that is 4-7pm.

If blackouts are too long, fridges and freezers are affected more

It's a worse case scenario, unlikely to actually happen.

It's because they can't meet the demand at those times because everyone wants to use it i.e. not enough power to supply everyone who needs it so not everyone will get it.

I don’t think they choose the time due the cuts. It depends on when the demand will outstrip the supply and that’s when they have to cut it.

Surely longer blackouts during the day, when we don’t need lights and kids are at school and most people are at work would be better?
How do you propose people work during the day (eg on PCs) during a blackout?

It is because those times have highest demand (and potentially insufficient supply) that there might be blackouts - there is no need to have blackouts when less electricity is needed!

Those are the peak hours of demand

We wouldn’t need power cuts at non-peak times, there would be enough supply.

Kids won't be in school and lots of adults will be unable to work during the day if there's no power!

Is this just for residential use or will business users be affected too? We teach until 8.00pm at my university, impossible to timetable everything otherwise.

I wondered this at first, why can't they just do it overnight when most people are asleep? But then I researched it a little bit and realised that they can't just do it when convenient and store the power to use later. They have to reduce the demand at the time if it gets too high.

I thought they could store it for later, but it seems not!

School and businesses operational at that time. 4-7 is peak domestic use time.

Because the reason we would need blackouts would be because they can’t generate sufficient power to meet peak demand (because they don’t have enough gas for gas power stations/can’t import enough power from abroad). Early evening is peak demand and thus when there wouldn’t be enough power to go round. It’s not necessary at 2am because there’s not much demand then anyway.

There is very little ability to "store" electricity and the power losses are large. Most of our power supply is "always on" types or things like wind and solar that are available when available...

The gas powered stations are usually our quick response options so are particularly hard to replace if the weather isn't co-operative.

Pumped storage schemes are generally for super high peaks (half time at an England match).

I've heard that we're increasing coal usage, but this is a background source not a quick response source...

I think it’s also worth noting that the talk is of this happening perhaps half a dozen times in particularly cold weather. It’s not going to be every day in perpetuity, it’s a temporary inconvenience- it doesn’t require retimetabling university classes or buying diesel generators. People for the most part will just adapt and cope.

As others have said it's to do with peak demand. Businesses may have to close a little early and we maybe asked to cook and do washing outside of these hours.

Ok yep, I’m the idiot that forgot it’s not just homes that will be losing the electricity! Sorry! And I didn’t realise we couldn’t store it. Thanks

How could the economy survive if people can't work?

I'm at work in my house during the day, can't boot up my pc with candles.

How will everyone be doing the kids dinner?

Surely longer blackouts during the day, when we don’t need lights and kids are at school and most people are at work would be better?

I’m not sure you fully understand what a blackout will entail op.