When could blackouts happen in UK? What have Crawley Borough Council said? Exact time of day a 3 hour planned power blackout could occur this winter

With the news that the UK could face winter blackouts, Crawley Borough Council reassures residents that it will not impact them.
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The National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) said households could face planned three-hour outages this winter.

The head of the UK’s electricity and gas systems’ operator has outlined the “worst case scenario” which could see UK households facing three-hour blackouts this winter.

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National Grid boss John Pettigrew at the Financial Times’ Energy Transition Summit on Monday (17 October) said blackouts would have to be imposed in the “deepest darkest evenings” in January and February if electricity generators did not have enough gas to meet demand, particularly if there is a bout of cold weather.

Cost of living crisis: Crawley Borough Council prepares for UK-wide blackouts and is “confident” that it won’t affect residentsCost of living crisis: Crawley Borough Council prepares for UK-wide blackouts and is “confident” that it won’t affect residents
Cost of living crisis: Crawley Borough Council prepares for UK-wide blackouts and is “confident” that it won’t affect residents

What exact times could the UK face blackouts?

In a report by Sky News, “the head of Britain's electricity and gas systems' operator has told households to prepare for blackouts between 4pm and 7pm on weekdays during ‘really, really cold’ days in January and February if gas imports are reduced.”

Why are we facing potential blackouts?

Due to Russia’s war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russian gas imports, many European countries are facing gas shortages.

A large amount of electricity is generated from gas, putting strain on national electricity supplies as demand increases as the weather gets colder. The UK gets 40% of its electricity from gas-fired power stations while gas heats the vast majority of homes.

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The UK does not rely on imported gas from Russia but it does import electricity and gas from European countries that rely on Russian gas, and this supply could be limited due to strained relations with the Kremlin.

In the face of the “challenging” winter facing European energy supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) is planning for what would happen if there were no imports of electricity from Europe.

To tackle a loss of imports from France, Belgium and the Netherlands, there are two gigawatts of coal-fired power plants on standby to fire up if needed to meet demand.

The ESO has warned that UK households and businesses may face planned three-hour outages during the winter to ensure the grid does not collapse.

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The planned blackouts is the most dire of three possible scenarios that the ESO has set out for how Britain’s electricity grid might cope with the worst global energy crisis for decades.

In the other two scenarios, the operator hopes that by paying people to charge their electric cars at off-peak times, and firing up back-up coal plants, it can offset the risk of blackouts.

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 gas to continue operating.

The margins between peak demand and power supply are expected to be sufficient and similar to recent years in the National Grid ESO’s base case scenario for this winter.

How is Crawley Borough Council preparing for blackouts?

A spokesperson for the council said: “The company that procures energy on our behalf is confident that our supply is secure. However, we will continue to monitor the situation.”