The Government is not telling people to reduce overall energy consumption, a minister has said, but he refused to rule out rationing. Climate minister Graham Stuart insisted during interviews on Friday morning the UK’s energy security is “pretty strong”.
On Thursday, the National Grid Electricity System Operator said households and businesses might face planned three-hour outages to ensure the grid does not collapse. But it described such a scenario as “unlikely”.
Mr Stuart said that rather than looking at reducing overall use, the Government is supporting the energy regulator to devise solutions to provide incentives for businesses and consumers to potentially cut peak-time energy demand if needed. Mr Stuart also said he does not recognise a report in The Times which claimed Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg signed off on a £15 million public information campaign about using less energy this winter only for the plan to be ruled out by Prime Minister Liz Truss.
