Power Cuts

Yep, it looks like time to buy a fresh bottle of gas for the camping stove, and a supply of those nightlight candles from Ikea. Welcome to the 1970s. Happy winter everyone.

Can you run a dialysis machine off a turbo trainer?

Has to be approved by the king, I read. And that available power would be shared "equitably" across regions, whatever that means.

It doesn't sound like anything to get too worried about - a three hour power cut with a day's advance warning via text message.

I think most people could survive that fairly unscathed, especially with plenty of advanced warning.

I am surprised that the expected electricity saving of the measure would only be 5% though.

And I can see possible long term benefits from trying to reduce our energy dependency, with greater education and awareness of the need for energy savings, and of course the importance of insulating Britian.

Edit: Nadhim Zahawi on QT this evening claimed it is unlikely that power cuts will be necessary, which begs the question why announce the possibility of them at all?

Is it to allow enough time for people to make alternative arrangements? Encourage consumers to use less energy? Or manage expectations so that when the power cuts don't occur a grateful nation praises the government and energy providers for overcoming a very difficult situation?

@tired Erm, might not be much good in the winter of discontent part 2, but ... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3280036/

Nadhim Zahawi on QT this evening claimed it is unlikely that power cuts will be necessary, which begs the question why announce the possibility of them at all?

Because his "unlikely" is a lot more "likely" than it has ever been before.

I can't find a source at the moment, but I believe that the chances of the UK suffering widespread electricity supply failure has gone from 1/100 years to 1/20 years as margins are eroded. (Widespread failure = collapse of the grid which will take *days* to recover.). The most risky time is if there is a prolonged cold spell accompanied by high pressure (= no wind).

I believe that "the industry" has, for some time, been trying to get the gov't to address this. It's more a function of the UK infrastructure than the current political events, but will no doubt be blamed on the latter.

Yep, it looks like time to buy a fresh bottle of gas for the camping stove

Good point, luckily though I'm gas cooking/ living-room fire but will stock up on some canisters for the camping lantern

Or manage expectations so that when the power cuts don’t occur a grateful nation praises the government and energy providers for overcoming a very difficult situation?

National Grid have no skin in that game, their job is to manage what they have. I very much doubt they would come out and say this for no reason.

Nadhim Zahawi on QT this evening claimed it is unlikely that power cuts will be necessary, which begs the question why announce the possibility of them at all?

I'm sure the Minister for Equalities and Intergovernmental Relations is well briefed on energy infrastructure so I take great comfort in his words.

I think it's interesting that Truss's government has been able to claim that the closure of the Rough gas storage facility wasn't a decision that the government would have had any say in, but simultaneously that Kwasi Kwarteng is responsible for it being reopened.

Power cuts forecast in 2024 for Northern Ireland as environment regs mean a coal plant won't be allowed to run

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-63155327

Personally if it is a choice between reg and power cuts I would amend the regs.

With the current gas situation closing a coal power station looks unwise.

All depends where you live but I get 2 or 3 power cuts a year and had a 3 hour power cut just last week.
Having notice of them would have made it a lot easier to deal with.

Better if they occur in the day than the evening as you can just go out, don't need lights in house etc,. but it somewhat disturbs any working at home.

Our power resilience has been in decline for many many years. Cold weather and high pressure with no wind will create problems. Rolling blackouts happen a lot in other countries, when I lived in NZ we had these as well. Not ideal but we’re so conditioned now that we expect a new car, new phone, two overseas holidays a year and everything to be avaialable NOW that coping becomes ‘a thing’. It’s not great but survivable.

It was made clear that cuts were a worst case scenario, but that doesn't make a great headline.

National Grid have been warning about the increasing risk for a few years now, and governments have done nothing to prepare for it.

Hope for a mild winter with enough wind and sun. And rain, if you're in a still too dry England.

It's not impossible, but a lot of things have to go wrong before we have domestic power cuts. Bear in mind that large industrial gas consumers are often on interruptible contracts.

A lot of people would be glad of only 3 hour power cuts after the power cuts of last winter which lasted days or weeks for some. Obviously for different reasons.

3 hours of cuts notified in advance should really be no biggie for the majority people who have no medical need to have a dedicated 24/7 supply, and I'd hope those people would have some sort of back up in place the could cover 3 hours.

Can you run a dialysis machine off a turbo trainer?

Aye. We need to keep upto £15k of live blood product cool in fridge.

From what chappie on R4 was saying, we would need a combination of calm, really old weather and an issue with Norway interconnects and likely a powerstation down for it to be an issue - and they would a) appeal to public to conserve a
b) shut factories first, c) put it on a rolling blackout only a few hours at a time if they *had* to hit residential homes.

So basically if a station trips out because there's a Y in the day then:

A) appeal to an imaginary better nature
B) shut down industry and have folk moaning about that
C) **** you we tried to be nice about it.

I'd imagine that sums it up.

We're okay, could certainly survive a few hours. Aside from medical devices what about heating? Can't run a boiler without electricity. Maybe just turn the hobs on at full chat, that doesn't sound like it could go wrong at all.

I don't blame National Grid for this, I blame 30 years of governments failing to take responsibility for national infrastructure and leading us to where we are today.

We’re okay, could certainly survive a few hours.

People survived days of it last winter,we can manage a few hours.

I don’t blame National Grid for this, I blame 30 years of governments failing to take responsibility for national infrastructure and leading us to where we are today.

The fundamental requirement of government to protect its population? If only...

I blame 30 years of governments failing to take responsibility for national infrastructure and leading us to where we are today.

The problem is this is incompatible with the markets know best approach. The power supplies were handed to private companies and it was their job to ensure it works. Sadly though contingency measures tend to be expensive and so when it comes to resilience which is rarely needed or profits the latter wins.

I don’t blame National Grid for this, I blame 30 years of governments failing to take responsibility for national infrastructure and leading us to where we are today.

Coupled with a dose of 40-50 years ago we decided to sell off all our reserves to private companies, ignore renewables, go the cheapest route, and live for the day.

If anything has been shown over the last few months, it's that on national issues such as energy and food we have to become more independent and look to the future.

Not ideal but we’re so conditioned now that we expect a new car, new phone, two overseas holidays a year and everything to be avaialable NOW that coping becomes ‘a thing’.

I'm old enough to remember power cuts in the 70's, but still sane enough to realise that how we lived 50 years ago was totally different to now.

Example; our house back then had 2 sockets upstairs, 1 in my folks room (for their teasmade) and 1 at the top of the stairs. Had a fire in the Living room (glass door'd coke fire) and we had a bath once a week (whether we need it or not). Had an inside loo though, unlike the house I was born in.

Anyone who talks positively about the current s**tshow IMO is an idiot (or a shill).

I’m sure the Minister for Equalities and Intergovernmental Relations is well briefed on energy infrastructure so I take great comfort in his words.

As I member of the current Cabinet Nadhim Zahawi is undoubtedly sufficiently well-informed of the likelihood of power cuts, although iirc on QT he was referring to information he was privy to as Chancellor of the Exchequer, which was only a month ago.

The question is was he being truthful with regards to his claims of the low likelihood of power cuts this winter?

Personally I’ll just make sure the campervan is charged and fuelled.

Of course they should direct the electricity to the region’s that need it most in account of the prevailing temperatures. That’ll mean keeping the frozen North a bit warmer and that the balmy South can withstand maybe 6 hours.

Maybe just turn the hobs on at full chat, that doesn’t sound like it could go wrong at all

Where I worked 40+ years ago the first one in of a morning turned all the gas rings on in the messroom kitchen. It was very effective but rather moist.

As I member of the current Cabinet Nadhim Zahawi is undoubtedly sufficiently well-informed

They're all zealots, they don't live in reality, they just live in Brexit land where everything will be OK because Brexit. I doubt any of them could find their own arseholes.

It was on PM on R4 as I was driving home yesterday. The interviewee, Greg Hands used to be energy minister up until a few week's back. The National Grid report was discussed - h<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">e was claiming the NG report this threat every year which is kind of true; the difference is that every year NG have said that if x, y, z all go wrong then we could be at risk of power cuts but the likelihood of them all going wrong at the same time was outside of any credible range of modelling. This year, it's now within the credible range - still (highly?) unlikely but no longer 'wired to the moon' levels of disaster scenario.</span>

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001cpxm

34 mins onward

Also part of that was interesting - the French have just launched a 'sobriety plan' asking people to do obvious stuff mainly, aiming to reduce consumption - reduce your heating temperature by a degree or so, slow down on motorways, public buildings will reduce their temp, and so on. They also are launching an app like a live traffic queue time, so you can see when the system has high demand so if you can avoid running your washing machine or whatever until another time then you can make a difference. Sounds quite a decent idea (although presumably over here one of Truss's mates would be asked to produce the app, for 5x the going rate and then fail to deliver it anyway)

The most risky time is if there is a prolonged cold spell accompanied by high pressure (= no wind).

I would expect the most likely scenario is the same thing which happened to the NS 1 / 2 pipelines happens to one of the inter-EU interconnects - a mysterious under water explosion.

I predict a run on loo roll !

This link gives an overview of the state of the grid.

https://extranet.nationalgrid.com/RealTime

They'll turn off industry 1st before infrastructure and domestic

So we want a growth economy, which would probably benefit from having a reliable supply of energy, however we’re not going to ask people to cut back on energy use during this period, but under supply may result in power cuts.

Something doesn’t quite add up

Also part of that was interesting – the French have just launched a ‘sobriety plan’ asking people to do obvious stuff mainly, aiming to reduce consumption – reduce your heating temperature by a degree or so, slow down on motorways, public buildings will reduce their temp, and so on. They also are launching an app like a live traffic queue time, so you can see when the system has high demand so if you can avoid running your washing machine or whatever until another time then you can make a difference. Sounds quite a decent idea (although presumably over here one of Truss’s mates would be asked to produce the app, for 5x the going rate and then fail to deliver it anyway)

Yeah we should do something similar...oh.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/07/climate-minister-britons-not-be-told-use-less-energy-winter-nanny-state

The power supplies were handed to private companies and it was their job to ensure it works.

No, their top priority is to make as much profit as possible for the directors and the shareholders.

"Ensure it works" is rather lower down the list.

I did giggle at the advice somewhere to use your washing machine and tumble dryers at night to lessen the load. Partly from a safety perspective (at least the odd fire will lessen the heating bill for the neighbours) but also the thought of everyone in flats having their washing machine on full spin at 1am, the whole block would sahke enought hat noone could even hope of getting to sleep.

They’ll turn off industry 1st before infrastructure and domestic

Depends if the industry is a Tory donor or not surely? Also imagine if they decide to only switch off Labour areas, will be interesting to see how they do it if they do have to go ahead with these plans.

@footflaps - perfectly put. This is what happens when we have to endure the political dregs. I mentioned on a post yesterday about deadwood in the public sector which was sort of taken in the wrong way by some. There's a ton in this cabinet that i think we don't need along with all their hangers on. They contribute little if anything and have been quite damaging to the country. Have you noticed the more the government interfere with your life the worse it gets?!

@theotherjonv - yup, yet still electric cars are meant to be the future for everyone.

Re the power cuts, we've been being nudged and softened for a while on this. There was a section a few weeks on BBC Breakfast where they were discussing strategies for coping with power cuts and which best batteries to have for your house.

In the words of the great Alan Partridge; 'this country!' 🙂

I got a proper hiding in 1982 for pouring candlewax all over the new carpet during a powercut

yup, yet still electric cars are meant to be the future for everyone.

@theotherjonv – yup, yet still electric cars are meant to be the future for everyone.

Well everyone having a 100kWh battery sat on the driveway would be very good for managing peak demand spikes, just dip a few % into all the batteries. Long term you can see it making the grid work far more efficiently....

yup, yet still electric cars are meant to be the future for everyone

Unlike petrol/diesel which has never had an issue. It was only a year ago people were going nuts over their car fuel. Half hour queues and then being limited to £30, if you could find any at all.
Personally, that was more of an inconvenience to my life than a publicised/pre warned 3 hour black out would be.

Well everyone having a 100kWh battery sat on the driveway would be very good for managing peak demand spikes, just dip a few % into all the batteries. Long term you can see it making the grid work far more efficiently….

I was asked to work on a project at one of the big charger installers figuring out just that... 10 years ago. They're still not doing it yet I guess.

When I lived in deepest rural North Wales a few years ago power cuts were a regular occurrence. We had a delightful Christmas trying to cook a dinner in a mates caravan!! You got used to them, we had a camping gas stove to make brews, extra sleeping bags and a supply of candles and reading material.
This was before the age of everything running on alexa and online tho, so no doubt civilisation will collapse within the first 5 minutes of the first blackout.

Unlike petrol/diesel which has never had an issue. It was only a year ago people were going nuts over their car fuel. Half hour queues and then being limited to £30, if you could find any at all.
Personally, that was more of an inconvenience to my life than a publicised/pre warned 3 hour black out would be.

There's certainly been a lot of opportunity for Schadenfreude in relation to all the "but how am I supposed to charge an electric car" comments over the past 3 years.

[I don't have an electric car, I just hate them slightly marginally less than I hate most cars]

Oh! Isn't the World Cup of Soccerball in November and December?

If there is one thing to cause a riot it's a powercut during the WC Final/England match.

I'm just wondering what to do about fish tanks.. Can you buy batteries that covert to AC to keep the pumps and heaters going?

I guess a cheap UPS would work as it's pretty low wattage equipment..?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07THLHVHQ/ref=sspa_mw_detail_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWwp13NParams

Bill - nothing to be concerned about as england won't get past the group stage.

The question is was he being truthful with regards to his claims of the low likelihood of power cuts this winter?

Well, his remarks backed up what the National Grid's statement

But the government really needs to get people focusing on reducing usage.

I’m just wondering what to do about fish tanks.. Can you buy batteries that covert to AC to keep the pumps and heaters going?

If any power cuts are just 3 hours you won't have too much to worry about. When I had tropical fish, on the odd occasion we had a power cut I would just throw a duvet over the tank to keep the heat in. I guess this advice might not be as pertinent if you keep marine which need a much more stable environment believe.

I was thinking about this earlier today. I reckon we could do most of our workshop work using head torches if necessary. The bummer will be our cloud-based EPOS system and the card machine, both of which rely on a working secure internet connection. If the power goes out, I don't know whether we'll still have mobile signal, so I can't plan to rely on a mobile hotspot if necessary.
Time to return to the barter system? We exchanged a bike service for a sack of potatoes during lockdown. 😉

I’m just wondering what to do about fish tanks..

Just cover them with loads of blankets/duvet/whatever it's only proposed to be for 3 hours so it shouldn't have any dramatic affect on temperature or water chemistry. And importantly any changes will be gradual.

You might consider cleaning the filters afterwards as you would during regular maintenance. Obviously aerobic bacteria in the filters will have died back during the 3 hours but they will re-establish to previous levels very quickly. Although I doubt that cleaning the filters will be particularly necessary.

I guess that if you wanted to be super cautious you could also do a partial water change as well.

I have no idea about a marine aquarium though. A power cut would worry me if I was responsible for one.

If your electricity fails for any reason(at source), the power supply company is supposed to take X amount off your bill.

I expect if power cuts are going to now become the norm, and these profit driven parasites are looking at refunding millions of customers, there's going to be a new clause in your terms and conditions.

So pay attention to anything dropping through the door from your supplier announcing information about proposed power outages.

I’m just wondering what to do about fish tanks..

which is a bit more versatile (great for taking camping etc!)
Bit spendy, but there'll be discounts on Black Friday for those and the Jackery equivalent which is the other budget version.

Dyna - no they have said people would get money back

It's what happens when you close coal power stations which can easily stock fuel and build loads of wind and solar which is useless on still winter evenings. And are relying on an aging fleet of nuclear power stations which are getting closed at end of life. And planning to rely on imports wasn't clever either.

As highlighted back in July

https://watt-logic.com/2022/07/28/winter-outlook-2022/

It’s what happens when you close coal power stations which can easily stock fuel and build loads of wind and solar which is useless on still winter evenings. And are relying on an aging fleet of nuclear power stations which are getting closed at end of life. And planning to rely on imports wasn’t clever either.

FIFY

It’s what happens when you don't plan.

A bit like how they didn't plan for a pandemic either, even when told that their planning was 'lacking'.

It’s what happens when you close coal power stations which can easily stock fuel and build loads of wind and solar which is useless on still winter evenings. And are relying on an aging fleet of nuclear power stations which are getting closed at end of life. And planning to rely on imports wasn’t clever either.

Yes, but Brexit will make everything better. The clear problem is that you are thinking like a remainer!

Sunlit uplands with more white, English coal power than you could shake a stick at!

For 12v stuff like internet routers etc you could look at something like a 12v UPS

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/384160119357?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=4ptba3f-sle&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=o52LRPCBTFu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Well everyone having a 100kWh battery sat on the driveway would be very good for managing peak demand spikes, just dip a few % into all the batteries. Long term you can see it making the grid work far more efficiently….

I was asked to work on a project at one of the big charger installers figuring out just that… 10 years ago. They’re still not doing it yet I guess.

Tesla are doing this in California using a virtual powerplant of Tesla Powerwalls in 2342 homes.

https://electrek.co/2022/08/18/teslas-virtual-power-plant-first-event-helping-grid-future/

Maybe I'm reading too much into the situation but it wouldn't surprise me if they're talking up the prospect of power cuts as much as possible to soften opposition to fracking the shit out of the country 🤔

<ernielynch
Free Member
It doesn’t sound like anything to get too worried about – a three hour power cut with a day’s advance warning via text message.>

I couldn't agree more really not an issue if it helps.

Trickle down power cuts....

I'm unaffected by all this stuff - heat and hot water from free firewood, and I live in an ex SSE house on an 11kv spur attached to a 3MW hydro electric plant that will only be shutting down if we get a winter drought on the West Coast of Scotland. The power plant can't operate on island mode but I cant see the spur shutting down as they'll need all the generation they can get.

Smug, me?

Oooh - you edited that.

The question will be is there more demand or generation on that 11kV line from the automated switching point.

Me?  I’ve got a Tesla Powerwall that I can make sure is topped up prior to a rolling 3 hour power cut and will operate in island mode automatically.
I suspect if there are rolling power cuts my energy use will rise slightly due to 1) the round trip efficiency of a battery and 2) neighbours dropping in for a cup of tea.

Smug, me?

Well I can't claim my own personal 3MW hydro plant but if it looks like power cuts are going to happen I'll nudge up the reserve limit on the Powerwall to make sure it always has enough reserve to run the house for 3-4 hours.

You’ll only need say 2kWh to easily last 3 hours. Just don’t run the washing machine during the power cut.

You’d probably get away with 1kWh

I can't help thinking this won't have that much of an effect anyway. Won't it just offset the demand either side of the power cuts? Everyone charging their power packs, running the washing machine, having a shower, ramping the heating up to get some heat in the house etc. Then turning all the same stuff on as soon as the lights come on? How many people will celebrate with a brew when the power is back on! Or doesn't it work like that?

Personally not that fussed, it's not a hardship in the grand scheme of things for us, but there are plenty of vulnerable people out there who will feel this if it does happen.

I also wonder how many throbbers will just sit in their cars with the engine running to keep warm/radio on/charge the iPhone?

@fettlin I think that’s probably exactly how it will work.

I live in an ex SSE house on an 11kv spur attached to a 3MW hydro electric plant that will only be shutting down if we get a winter drought on the West Coast of Scotland

Do you have a smart meter? If so, you can be shut down.

I've been stockpiling scrap lead acid batteries from fire systems. We used to return them for disposal but I've kept them to weigh them in or use them with an invertor for camping.
Plenty of them are fine but replaced due to age.
Plenty haven't discharged, so completely by accident I have a shed full of free electricity, if there's a power cut.
Combined with the camping stoves we can hopefully ride out the (possible) return to the seventies without it being too horrible.

The power cuts are not intended to reduce overall power consumption. So if people up their consumption slightly either side of evening peak it won't matter.

The cuts will be if National Grid can't supply enough power to meet overall demand. Conditions will be a high pressure weather zone in January. Wind drops. No solar in evening. No imports available in the evening because of similar weather in Europe.

Not a big issue for us. Head torches. Gas hob for cooking and a bit of heat

How will be a 3 hour cut work out for a old folks home?

I believe the plan to meet demand includes imports. Hopefully they don't have a similar plan in France. We can,t import from each other at the same time

Do you have a smart meter? If so, you can be shut down.

Unless it's a smart pre payment meter ....nope.

Unless it’s a smart pre payment meter ….nope.

Um, yep.

Certainly if the meter is a SMETS2 spec. I’m a bit rusty so not sure on SMETS1 DCC enrolled meters. Now… while the meter has the capability to be remotely disconnected, and the commands are available through the DCC, the suppliers I have dealt with have not implemented the functionality to do so in bulk.

Interesting because while ofgem say your right in extreme circumstances and that in 2021 only 6 cases of remote disconnection were recorded. .... Most of the large power suppliers go to great lengths to say it's not possible in writing on their website. (And their staff)

Not that it bothers me. Either way. We have a generator and EPS because it is pretty much a way of life that we get 2-3 powercuts a year out here - and generally for 2-3 days at a time....or 10day-2weeks if it's not the main line that's down.

But the DNO will be the first ones moaning when people start bypassing their meters if they start that nonsense. Not that I condone it but desperate people feeling like they are being controlled do desperate things and it's quite literally 20 minutes including getting the tools out to bypass a smart meter.

How will be a 3 hour cut work out for a old folks home?

The DNOs should have protected customers configured when they carry out the rota disconnections. Not sure if this extends to care homes though.

Update...the protected sites list only includes hospitals by the look of it

'Hospitals as agreed with NHS Foundation Trusts, Primary Care Trusts,
Acute Trusts, Local Health Boards (in Wales), Welsh NHS Trusts and
NHS Health Scotland'

I know, certainly with two of the larger suppliers, they are also almost correct when they say it is not possible. But only because they have chosen not to implement the functionality as part of their standard customer management systems. It is possible on a ‘per device’ basis but if they are operating within the appropriate regulations it requires more than one person, and an exceedingly high level of access within the organisation. Certainly not something easily achieved within a large company.

From a suppliers perspective I can’t see that functionality being implemented unless they were mandated to by government/ofgem. It doesn’t offer them any benefits right now. Also, due to the nature of smart meter communications, only the supplier can send the relevant commands to the meter. So it’s not like the government could tell the DCC to ‘just do it’.

I just wish I trusted the current administration to not do something monumentally stupid in this area, because the technology is already out there.

The power cuts are not intended to reduce overall power consumption. So if people up their consumption slightly either side of evening peak it won’t matter.

Hmmm. The cuts are hypothetical, though I am sure they are being planned, so it is difficult to be precise, but…

They are rolling cuts that I’m hearing  talked about, so not everyone would get the same 3 hours, so it isn’t just to address the evening peak.
This is where energy -v- power gets interesting, as does what the constraint is.  Don’t worry about PV - there won’t be any at 5pm in December/January. It’s wind or gas that’s the issue (technically it’s both).  If as I think it is we are talking about gas constraints into CCGTs (and saving gas for heating and cooking) then it is about short term energy reduction not avoiding the 4-5 hour evening peak. That’s consistent with 3 hours rolling cuts.
If they are trying to avoid the evening peak the a 3 hour power cut to a different group each evening would be where’d you need to go.
It’s an interesting subject and not easy to explain on a phone on a forum.

I do have some knowledge as I wrote the rota disconnection schedules for the Sheffield floods in 2007 (which may have been the first time they were used since the 1970s in this country- not sure).

I settled on 6 groups (3 sets of pairs) and a 3 hour power cut.  Each group had a high likelihood of a cut (while its pair had a medium likelihood and the other four groups were low likelihood).
So your 6 periods of 3 hours were HLLMLL with each group offset by one period.

The three hours was intended to be long enough to be worth leaving the house but short enough not to cover 2 meals. The 18 hour repeat meant you didn’t miss the same meal each day (always being off at dinner time would be bad). And we were able to mix the localities that were off so that you ought to be in walking distance of a pub, shop or community centre that was on - in a town.
I later found out one of the guys that worked for me had been involved in drawing up the rota disconnection in the 70s - nice of him to tell me in advance.

Widespread failure = collapse of the grid which will take *days* to recover.

This was an interesting watch...not particularly relevant other than it shows how the stack of cards comes tumbling down.

I was wondering about the remote disconnect mentioned above, only learned that it was a remote feature of smart meters recently. I wonder if that would make it easier to get the grid back online after a collapse (or prevent a blackout) if they could bulk disconnect households.

Is there likely to be water problems as well or is it just power?
Only asking because the mother-in-law does some monster turnouts round at ours some evenings and I'd hate for one to be stuck in the pan for any longer than is absolutely necessary.

The power cuts are not intended to reduce overall power consumption. So if people up their consumption slightly either side of evening peak it won’t matter.

Why am I misunderstanding this then?

. The aim is to reduce power usage by about 5% through the three-hour disconnections. Consumers would typically be notified with a text message, similar to when there is a planned outage for maintenance work.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/oct/06/how-would-three-hour-power-cuts-work-great-britain#:~:text=The%20aim%20is%20to%20reduce,planned%20outage%20for%20maintenance%20work.

There is no suggestion that these power cuts will only occur during peak periods. And how can they be sure of demand in whatever area the day before?

tonyja

Is there likely to be water problems as well or is it just power?
Only asking because the mother-in-law does some monster turnouts round at ours some evenings and I’d hate for one to be stuck in the pan for any longer than is absolutely necessary.

Are you saying it's a double flusher, as your toilet cistern should be full for the first flush... If its a second I suggest you hand her a bucket of old washing water before she populates the pan 😉