Do you think there will be water and energy shortages?

[Crazydiamond106]

Has anyone seen anything in the news about this? I’ve found a couple of articles relating to energy due to the increased demand of more people working or isolating at home.

I’ve not seen anything about water but know bottled water has been included in the stockpiling, with some supermarkets limiting the amount people can buy.

Slightly concerned especially as we have a 7 week year old baby and husband in a high risk group...what a nightmare.

Do you know what I asked DH the same thing last night, he thinks not but if we get a lot of people getting Ill at the same time, it will effect the staffing at places like water plants etc? Doesn't help that I binge watched BBC Survivors last week and this was the case...

Don’t know, but it has concerned me. I guess the government and water and energy companies have contingencies for this.

I'm concerned as we have prepayment meters with not much on them until OH gets paid on Friday. Im just glad the weather is warming up, having no gas or electric in April or May is a lot better than say November

I don't think so. Other countries who are coming out the other side, did not suffer from any of these. People would use as much energy working from home as they would have used working at work, so no difference there.

Please don't worry.

Energy demands at home will increase but I would have thought that would be offset by reduced demands from closed workplaces so hopefully will even out? I would also hope that energy and water companies have business continuity plans for things like this - let’s hope they’re robust!

No

Other countries who are coming out the other side

Are there any countries coming out the other side? Genuine question.

China?

A lot of waterworks are mostly automatic. Minimum manning will be managed and priority sites/alarms identified

Are there any countries coming out the other side? Genuine question.

Sorry, probably poor choice of words, meant they did the lockdown and didn't lose electricity and water.

I think people need to remember that the vast majority only get mild symptoms or even no symptoms so it is VERY UNLIKELY that absolutely no one could staff these plants.

No. They have strong back up plans and need minimal staffing.

I know the staff involved in water supply are very dedicated. My friend is on call and would go out on the mid of things like storm dennis at 1am to check things were ok. He also worked round the clock for days on end when there were drought conditions or flooding that could effect things.

No. Buying bottled water is unnecessary.
We use more energy in the depths of a cold winter I suspect than we will having more people working from home. The system copes.
Most needs minimal staffing, and this will be prioritised.

I think it will take longer to fix power cuts and burst water pipes because there's less people working at the utilities companies. In your shoes I'd have some ready made formula and bottles of mineral water to use in an emergency.
I think that we'll see sharp increases in bills as we inevitably use more electricity etc

My DB works at a nuclear power station. They have excellent contingency plans in place to ensure staffing levels are maintained.

No I don't think so but there are reports that the mobile phone companies are struggling to cope with the surge of people now working from home.

Sorry, probably poor choice of words, meant they did the lockdown and didn't lose electricity and water.

Hong Kong has the border closed with China and lockdown with schools and most offices and shops closed since January. Utilities are all running, after the initial panic buying they even have toilet roll and masks back in the shops (which are still open) and food!

The point of the lockdown is to reduce the number of people getting sick, thus keeping services running.

Whoops bold formatting fail there

A friend of ours in Chief Operating Officer of one of the water companies and he is not concerned - I think this sort of planning is part of their bread and butter and they plan for much worse situations.