Has anyone prepared for possible powercuts this winter?

Dowie, the problem is if there isn't the capacity they can't fix it easily.

In some ways a cut to a few small towns could be beneficial to the grid in the event of a cold winter, as it would mean there was less demand...
And if the power companies played it right and managed to direct the inevitable anger at the government for not letting them get on with building new capacity, might wake some nimby's up to the issues involved in not building new generating plants.
 
LeeUK said:
Dig up the cable supplying power to your home and attach a diesel generator to it. They did this in my street once when there was a supply fault. They plonked a genny at the end of the street and dug up the leccy pipe from the road and stuck it in it.
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Why would I want to pay for diesel and the cost of electricity on top? :confused:




Not prepared at all but if I got desperate I'd just go to work and use their generator power instead. :cool: what is disgraceful is its been nearly 20 years since a new nuclear power station has been turned on. I think we can confidently blame labour for that.
 
I was fairly well prepared for the apocalypse thread so should be ok for blackouts. We've had several 24 hour plus power cuts in the last few years. We're on kerosene heating and water and we have a small genny to power the boiler for a few days we also have a wood burner a few months wood and loads of candle makibg gear because we're bee keepers. So not worried.
 
I'm more concerned and interested to see what really happens in the next few years to come. I can't see 2016/17/18 being smooth for power during the winters. Unless…
 
We have a generator so no issues here. Powerful enough to power all the TVs , Sky box and lights etc. Even keeps the oil boiler going as well. I wouldn't risk the pc on it , but as long as the router is up then it's grand.
 
robfosters said:
With a new aquarium and a snake I could well do without one thank you very much.
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Thats brutal. I remember the troubles of the bad winters 2000/01/02/03 there about when our town and other towns were out for a week.

Floating/ish a cola bottle with hot water trying to keep the tank temperature up. Not fun. Then the hot water ran out.
 
Demand side control is signed up for 330MW, Heysham and Hartlepool may not return this winter. One 500MW Ferrybridge unit is out, one 300MW Ironbridge unit is out, Dungeoness has a feed pump problem on one unit and has poor reliability. If we lost one other big unit on a cold windless January day margins would be critical. The grid would issue a NISM (notice of insufficient system margin) shift managers are instructed to take no action that risks a trip. Lose a Sizewell unit and a major part of the grid is going down. It happened 2 years ago when they lost Longannet and a Sizewell unit on the same day, Norfolk went black, no one noticed -D
 
V F said:
It happened in the 70s. Before my time. It can happen again.
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Power cuts in 2014 would (Will!) be immeasurably more disruptive than they were in the early 70's!

Back then, a couple of paraffin lanterns and you were good to go! I remember plenty of shops still remained open during power cuts! Life basically went on!

They (And It) wouldn't today...!:(

(Indeed, it is hard to believe today, but there were still some textile "Mills" still in operation in the early 70's that didn't rely on electricity and were able to continue operation despite the power cuts owing to being independently powered by big coal fired steam engines!)

Extended power cuts would also put huge numbers of people at risk of hypothermia too! Again, back in the late 60's/Early 70's many, if not most, people, still heated their homes using solid fuel or gas fires. (Central heating was still pretty up market and only used on large properties) Solid fuel heating systems/gas fires do not require electricity. Modern heating systems do!

Ho Humm!
 
So many businesses are tied to electricity especially in regard to processing payments, etc. it would hit hard for some.
 
V F said:
Thats brutal. I remember the troubles of the bad winters 2000/01/02/03 there about when our town and other towns were out for a week.

Floating/ish a cola bottle with hot water trying to keep the tank temperature up. Not fun. Then the hot water ran out.
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A few years back, we had an outage for a week in my area when some ****** decided to nick the copper wire. Karma hit though as one was electrocuted to death! Some others local to me might remember it. I had to give my snake to a friend for a few days.

A poor fella in Dartford lost £12.000 worth of Koi carp. His entire stock. Some were 15 years old and weighed near 20 pounds :(
 
robfosters said:
A few years back, we had an outage for a week in my area when some ****** decided to nick the copper wire. Karma hit though as one was electrocuted to death! Some others local to me might remember it. I had to give my snake to a friend for a few days.

A poor fella in Dartford lost £12.000 worth of Koi carp. His entire stock. Some were 15 years old and weighed near 20 pounds :(
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Honestly that's just negligent, anyone who keeps fish should have a backup for power failures.
 
Yeah I remember that in the papers, didnt he try to nick the copper from one of those fenced off places which are clearly marked danger of death etc. Idiot
 
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