A Government minister has said that there will be no blackouts this winter amid fears that the UK could be left in the dark during freezing temperatures.
National Grid chief John Pettigrew warned back in October that households could face three-hour power cuts throughout January and February in a "worst-case scenario" if extreme cold grips the country and the UK cannot import enough gas from Europe. The National Grid decided against launching an emergency blackout prevention scheme last month, which would have seen households and businesses paid to reduce their electricity usage at peak times in the evening.
Now Oliver Dowden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has insisted that people can have "confidence" that there will be no blackouts this winter. Dowden told Times Radio: "It is the case that excepting some very, very extreme, unforeseen scenario disrupting supply, we would not expect that to happen, no, so people can have that confidence."
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Just last month, an automated blackout alert sparked panic after being issued by the National Grid, before being cancelled shortly afterwards. According to the National Grid website, the notices "are intended to be a signal that the risk of a System Stress Event in the GB electricity network is higher than under normal circumstances".
The last time the UK experienced planned blackouts was five decades ago in the 1970s, with then-Prime Minister Ted Heath introducing a three-day working week to save energy. This came following strike action at the time from coal miners and rail workers.
There have also been major unplanned outages during storms, including in 1987 when more than 1.5 million people were left without power. But according to the Government, the lights will stay on this winter unless the gas-fired power plants that produced 43% of Britain’s electricity over the last year cannot get enough fuel to keep running.
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