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?

Maybe make some sandwiches

I wouldn't be able to work without power!

Which is fine if it means I get paid time off.

I think Ada very young child during the peer cuts in the 70s so all I really remember was the excitement of having a bath by candlelight!
But my dad says they cooked simple meals on the camping Primus stove

• I was a very young child

You will need to pre-plan.

In our case using a gas hob lit with a match (though the oven is electric so couldn’t use that) or potentially food cooked early afternoon and kept warm in thermos. Failing that, late dinner or sandwiches/snacks/cold food until power goes back on.

If you’ve got a gas hob, then happy days. Or use a slow cooker while the power is on all day, or have sandwiches.

I would still be working at 4pm! I don't finish until 6 but I WFH for a call centre...
that'll be fun

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

Couldn't they bottle the spare electricity at night and pour it back into the grid in the morning? I'm sure I've seen something like this in Tom & Jerry.

(Actually it might have been Popeye.)

Hi all,
We've heard from the OP, she's worried that it was a daft question and would like the thread pulled, however we are refusing because a. no such thing as a daft question and b. come on, we were all thinking it. My first thought was 'BUT THE INTERNET!' (seriously. what will happen re modems?)
Anyway so we are leaving this thread, but will tweak the title a bit, and hopefully we can all help each other out with suggestions for how to occupy children in the dark and best card games to play by candlelight. W reckon this is where the campers will feel veeeery smug.

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?

When people need WiFi and computers or various machine to be able to work or be educated?

I'm a prepper so I'm set up for dealing with this pretty easily. It's a pain in the arse obviously and I'd rather not have it.
Heat - fortunately we have a wood stove otherwise I'd rely on hot water bottles and thermals. Keep windows and doors closed. All be in one room if possible.
Cooking - assuming its electric rather than gas, we still have a gas hob. If it were both I would use a big flask filled before the power went off. Sandwiches are an alternative but not regularly if it's a regular thing because they are a bit depressing in cold weather. Probably have a flask with hot drinks anyway to cheer us up.
Light - see attached photo. Cheapo head torch wrapped around an old 2 litre milk carton that has been 3/4 filled with water. Head torch turned in to diffuse the lights. Nicer for kids. Sit against a mirror if not using it as a lantern to get around. Please be careful with candles, by the way.
I have also bought some reduced priced garden solar lights from Aldi but those are more for cheerfulness than illumination.
Entertainment- don't underestimate the importance of this. Keep your phone charged up to watch off the battery. No idea if mobile data in your area will still be operational. Assume it might not be.
3 hours is tolerable but I'd rather we didn't have it in the first place .

We have a gas hob and a double gas oven so that and a lighter will be all we need. Might offer to cook their neighbours meals too!

Oh and we have an open fire so heating the downstairs at least isn’t a problem. Already have battery lanterns for camping. Plus a few gas canisters and even a gas one ring camping hob.

We have been talking about this on the Prepper threads. Have a lurk over there too.

I work from home 8am till 6pm, as does my husband.

@BoobBoobBaby Don't worry that it's a silly question and that you have made yourself look daft (I see MN said you wanted the thread deleted.) It's not a silly question. I actually wondered this too. Why not just turn off the power for an hour every day during daylight, just an hour in the late afternoon, to force people to switch off their electrical items/TVs/stereos etc. The fridge and freezer will go off, but in winter it won't hurt for a couple of hours. I suppose you could save MORE by doing it at night, but it's more inconvenient obvs. (Coz it's dark!)

I am sure people can not use the TV for an HOUR, and not use the internet for an hour, but as a few people have said, some people NEED electric 24/7 for medical equipment and so on.

Shame really, that the British public can't be depended on and relied on, to turn off all their electrical items for just one hour EVERY DAY of the year - between 3pm and 9pm, to conserve the power. (All of those that are able to, which will be most people to be fair.) Most people wouldn't though, because they don't care enough.

I'd do it. So would DH.

From 9 to 5, power runs factories, schools, business services ( which employ people and pay their wages) . So commercial users are the priority daytime power users.

In the 1970's, domestic users quickly learned to cook and do laundry at off-peak low- demand periods (at night, early morning).

When rolling power cuts happened in the evenings DH and I went to bed to keep warm, listen to the radio, make more babies etc.

I was at Junior school during the last prolonged period of blackouts in the 70's. It wasn't every night and, in our small town, they used to do a zone at a time. (In theory we could decamp to a friend for the evening). We could look out of the window to see who/where still had electricity. I think such zones still exist. Hospitals etc continued to get power.

We had gas for cooking and a gas fire (lit by matches or the ignition) and battery radios. We had a hot water tank so could have baths as usual.

Whereas we used to read/do homework by candles we would probably dig out camping lamps and rechargeable battery fake candles these days. We've a camping stove and a barbecue, but i suppose we could also eat late/eat bread and cheese/something we stuffed in a food thermos earlier in the day.

I'm sure my parents were ripping their hair out in the 70's, but it was quite an adventure as a kid.

Hopefully it won't come to that (we're definitely using far less energy than we were in equivalent months in the past 2 years)!

Don't panic; I am glad somebody identified the need to contingency plan

Check your oven works without electric, many don't because of safety cut off, hob should hopefully be ok with match

The problem is when you have peak demand. You have to have a network to cope with that level of demand. One of the things they want people to think about is changing behaviour to reduce that peak - by doing things at other times of day. The network doesn't get to choose when demand is highest. Thats the public's behaviour.

Or to put things into a different context: 'In the winter, between 4 and 7pm, do my solar panels work?'

You Are Being Unreasonable because you don't understand how that grid system and supply and demand work.

Please don't use camping stoves indoors. You need proper ventilation.
I'm a prepper. I've thought about this kind of stuff a lot.

Is there a way to only turn off power for some and not others?
There are some households (mine included ) who rely on power for medical equipment or for temperature sensitive medications that need refrigeration.
I wonder how that would work?

Fridges should maintain the temperature ok for a few hours, need to keep them closed as much as possible.

I already put the dishwasher on a timer to run overnight as we have cheaper power overnight. I need to get into the habit of doing this with the washing machine too.

We don’t have a hot water tank, and I assume a gas boiler won’t work with the electric switched off? In any case I think ours relies on a pump to move the water so evening baths/showers for the children will be out.
I guess a thermos is the best idea to be able to give them a wash before bed?

I was thinking of getting a solar lantern for my greenhouse to give me a little extra time out there at dusk, so perhaps I’ll get one that I can bring indoors just in case.