The UK Government is planning for blackouts but it is an “extremely unlikely scenario”, according to Nadhim Zahawi. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said it is “only right that we plan for every scenario”, before ruling out a £14 million campaign advising people how to conserve energy.
The National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO), which oversees Britain’s electricity grid, has said households and businesses might face planned three-hour outages to ensure that the grid does not collapse. But it described this as an “unlikely” scenario and it would emerge if power plants cannot get enough gas to keep running.
Planned blackouts hit the UK during the 1970s in response to the miners’ strikes and the oil crisis. There have also been major unplanned outages during storms, including in 1987 when more than 1.5 million people were left in the dark.
