People in England, Scotland and Wales are braced for the possibility of rolling power cuts this winter after a warning on Thursday from National Grid. The electricity and gas system operator has said households could face a series of three-hour power cuts if Vladimir Putin shuts off gas supplies from Russia, and Britain experiences a cold snap akin to 2018’s “beast from the east”.
Although National Grid has labelled the scenario “unlikely”, the emergency plan has prompted memories of persistent power outages in the 1970s and brought into focus the process by which people are cut off.
