Possible Power Cuts Ahead- How Can The Country Save Power ?

[LuluBlakey1]

We are now, after months of being told by the government that we won't have power shortages, being told we are likely to face rotas across the country of 3 hour power cuts during the winter.

Are there things we can do, nationally and as households, to save power?
I have a couple of ideas- but not much understanding of what really has most impact:

1. Across the country turn off street lights between 1am and 6am every night.
2. All municipal buildings/city and town centre buildings and shops to turn out all lights from midnight to 6 am.
3. Close down railway lines between midnight and 5 am across the country.

I am not including hospitals/medical/care facilities or other necessary night facilities in any of that.

For starters shops and offices could turn off all their lights at night. And shops don't need to be so hot.
Street lights could be turned off
In the small hours, or just every other one.
All the electric advertising hoardings could be turned off.
Municipal Christmas lights

I would be interested to know what the power bill for Christmas lights is and whether it is deemed worth the expense by the general (council) taxpayer this year.

I can see the positives of keeping the Christmas lights. Things will be just too bleak otherwise.

I would be sad not to have ours but if councils have more cuts, inflation and rising energy bills, I would think 'cutting energy use' would be a good excuse.

It is going to be a shit Christmas for a lot of people

Don’t they draw up the same plan every year

Yes. Big difference this year is less gas available across Europe, everything back up to full capacity post COVID and lack of back up coal fired power stations that were available on standby in previous years, even if they weren't generating year round.

I suppose could (possibly, not sure how it works technically) impose a max kw usage like we have on this side of the Alps.

I think ours is about 3kw, if too many things are sucking power at the same time the whole system trips. You can pay a premium to raise your kw allowance. But never bothered personally. It forces you to assess what is on before you add another appliance to the current mix. I have to wait for the dishwasher to finish before I can put the washing machine on for example, so am used to setting a delayed start. Also my lovely super fast kettle (present from family in U.K.) can only be used if absolutely everything else is off. So it’s gathering dust, cos it’s more trouble than it’s worth.

Last bill was just over 100euros for two months including the TV licence fee. Holding my breath to see what it will be next time. Don’t see how much more I can cut down.

I will start downloading and hoarding podcasts as well as keeping the kindle charged. My ADHD will get up to mischief if I’m bored in the dark.

This is actually a less crazy idea than it sounds even in the dead of winter, and if I were the government I would be actively considering incentivising it.

If you have a solar generator (vs just solar panels) what you actually have is a lovely big battery in your garage or something. That can be filled with solar energy, sure, but it can also be filled from the grid when demand is low and used when demand peaks. Having a lot of individual batteries scattered through the country would help reduce the demand on the grid and also cover people for a power cut. They'd work beautifully with the current rumoured plan to pay people to use energy offpeak.

Only tiny problem with the plan is... last I checked there was a massive shortage of them and waiting lists.

I'm up for banning christmas lights.

They do brighten up winter and I really like the blue ones.

But there are also some absolute abominations out there and they need to be stopped.

Hopefully the cost of the leccy will cull a fair few of them.

Yea energy's storage is key and badly overlooked for a decade or 4 because it doesn't fit with a lean mean mindset - storage. == waste to a neoliberal capitalist

Not on board with street light shut offs at all. Terrible for shift workers. Our son would be cycling home from work at 2am in pitch darkness, many others, lots women, walking.

no need at all though for overnight lighting in private business and public authority buildings. Our nearest city’s office blocks and county hall for example are lit up like Christmas trees overnight.

They do the same review, but obviously the likelihood of issues is higher and the reasonable worst case is worse due to the changes in the market.

I'm concerned that the government is trying to drip feed this to us so it doesn't seem quite so bad when it happens, especially if they are actually expecting it to be worse than 3 hours. Given that two months ago there was absolutely NOT going to be black outs, we are now at 3 hours rolling black outs, so who knows. After the last 2.5 years anythings possible!

Personally I'd like to know more about the rolling black out plans, as we aren't on mains water and rely on an electric pump for our borehole, so will be without water as well during black outs, so it would be good to know how often this might be per household. 3 hours once a week -meh!, 3 hours daily -more problematic. Also important for peope who WFH and employers, so they can plan, and people with healthcare equipment.

Also will there be a means of registering properties not to be part of the rolling blackouts, how, what criteria? It is definitly something that needs a lot of discussion and openess now, not in the depths of winter.

The issue is peak times when demand is highest. Not the middle of the night.

And that's if there is a shortage of gas to fuel stations.

So you spread usage to reduce peaks of demand and reduce wastage at off peak times.

So doing your washing at midnight rather than at 6pm would make more efficient use of the fuel we have.

It would be better to not switch on street lighting until 7pm rather than cut it after midnight (though there is a case to make to do this too).

Encouraging solar for domestic users (especially those who work from home) as that encourages usage off own supply.

We actually got an email yesterday giving us a better rate for what we supply to the grid too so obviously solar is being encouraged.

Just thinking about your usage. Things like the family being in one room until after peak hours, if people do it across the country it would make a difference.

The likelihood hood is that we will be short of power when there is little sun or wind

True to a point. But solar is better on cold, clear days when it's sunny.

And solar and wind power can help conserve stocks of gas for when they are needed.

I think that we can cut usage and shift times of use which will do a lot to ensure we don't actually have blackouts.

It's OK, nothing to see here The PM says there's plenty of energy to go round and we can use as much as we like

It would be better to not switch on street lighting until 7pm rather than cut it after midnight (though there is a case to make to do this too)

I don't that's a good idea on safety grounds - it's dark when DC are coming home from school and during the evening rush hour. Lights are needed then.

But, some streets could manage with some lights turned off, depending on traffic levels and road layout. Especially in the later part of peal hours, by which time traffic levels have reduced, as have pedestrian numbers (esp children).

I heard some energy strategist chap on the radio yesterday and he said if we've had the kind of winters we've had recently, we should be OK. If we get one like in 2010, when it was very, very cold and still, then that is when we will be more likely to see rolling blackouts.

True of many things on mumsnet- pandemic, politics, Ukraine war, but plenty of people expressing theur views and ideas. This is no different. Of course you are being rude- people who say they aren't, are always being rude. 😁

Yes, all possibilities and some are new ideas to me.

If we have to trust Truss we are absolutely fucked.

I have ordered 4 battery operated lights and 3 battery operated motion lights, that way I can switch the outside light off when dd is out and the motion lights will come on when she gets to the front door. I also plan to pop one int he bathroom for night time visits and one on the stairs.

The four other lights can be used in the lounge/bedroom inside of lights should the power go out, safer than candles

Where I live the street lights are already turned off between 1 and 4.

But all the shops have their lights on overnight.

Could we stay on British summer time so there's more light in the evenings?

Could we stay on British summer time so there's more light in the evenings?

ive just come back from Spain, I hated the dark mornings - it really affected me that it was dark until well gone 8am and it was only beginning of October. Id rather a lighter morning and darker at 7pm