Potential power outages this winter

V F said:
A lot of landline phones now are VoIP. Next you'll be saying rely on your mobile, then what happens if its service goes down and it can. But then are the fiber cabinets powered during the 3 hour stints? Even if you've gotten a UPS for your router.
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Landline. Our house went without one for the first 13 years of my life and I'm not that old, 29 before my first mobile phone, still survived.

What's with the need for constant communication with the world?
I understand the need of electric for people who medically need it to be running.
Pop to the nearest pub with power and have a meal with the wife etc.
Kids? Build a tent/ fortress in the living room and go old school.
 
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I think the company I work for would have no choice but to shutdown if mains power were off. While there is generators on site, it is a shared site with multiple freezers and large walk in freezers. They consume a ton of power and the diesel that powers the generators would be best served supporting those not the other facilities. It would probably cost close to £40,000 or more to refill the diesel tanks alone.
 
m4rmite said:
Landline. Our house went without one for the first 13 years of my life and I'm not that old, 29 before my first mobile phone, still survived.

What's with the need for constant communication with the world?
I understand the need of electric for people who medically need it to be running.
Pop to the nearest pub with power and have a meal with the wife etc.
Kids? Build a tent/ fortress in the living room and go old school.
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Well I had to use 999 on Friday and where I am the mobile signal can be flaky.
 
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Combat squirrel said:
I find it weird we as a people just accept 'the news' that there will be power outages........if I ran the power companies, id simply plan for them to not happen and make changes to avoid them...........isn't discussing future events as if they will happen all abit odd ?

How about just make sure it doesn't happen?

It's as if they are trying to make electric a rare product to drive up the price or something.
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How would you plan for low wind and no gas supplies then? Remember we have no storage thanks to the government.
 
V F said:
Well I had to use 999 on Friday and where I am the mobile signal can be flaky.
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i hope everything panned out ok for who ever needed the help. read a horror story about ambulance not being available for a kid whos mother thought he may have died!!!
thank christ he did survive but................................................
 
m4rmite said:
I spent 29 years without the Internet, let alone 3 hours.
And guess what? I survived :D
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Stop speaking truth, I vaguely remember the 70s blackouts was not a problem apart from mother set fire to the curtains with a candle :) would be banned now though..... Oh wait a good chance no candles on the window sill anymore.
 
SPG said:
Stop speaking truth, I vaguely remember the 70s blackouts was not a problem apart from mother set fire to the curtains with a candle :) would be banned now though..... Oh wait a good chance no candles on the window sill anymore.
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I remember them.
When the power went out my Dad would shout "nobody move" and then go to get the candles, hitting chairs and doors on the way to the cupboard :cry:
We all got a candle on a saucer (stuck with melted wax of course) and would read of play games till the power came on or bedtime.

Ah, the good old days!
 
Dem2k said:
So the cab's should be okay and I would hope most exchanges would have a contingency to a mains outage, but I doubt that's the case for all beyond UPS for surge protection and safe shutdown.
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Exchanges have their own supply thats always been the case have its why when theres a power cut the phones still work (landline)
 
m4rmite said:
Landline. Our house went without one for the first 13 years of my life and I'm not that old, 29 before my first mobile phone, still survived.

What's with the need for constant communication with the world?
I understand the need of electric for people who medically need it to be running.
Pop to the nearest pub with power and have a meal with the wife etc.
Kids? Build a tent/ fortress in the living room and go old school.
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What about the elderly, are they going down the pub for a meal too?

Some people are going to be sat in the dark and cold not really knowing what's happening so they will try and call a relative to see what's happening, can't do that if the phones are off too.

These blackouts are BS, be putting some people in danger as not everyone will know they are possibly happening.

That list of times and days it might go off, 12.30am to 3.30am on a Sunday, what's the point, hardly anyone will be using a great deal of energy at this time, what's it saving? minimal amounts. Plus they want us to use more energy out of peak hours, well that's off the table now doing some washing after midnight
 
If they need to save energy, they had the perfect chance yesterday to turn it off for a number of hours and just blame the storm we had. Doubt many would have complained too much.
 
nst68 said:
I love the “It is not a ‘car battery’ but is specifically designed to fit into our cabinets and is not something that could be readily adapted to power anything else.”, in other words "please don't nick it" !
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When FTTP was being installed around here last year I was speaking to an engineer about whether it would come down our road. He was making sure the ductiing was routed correctly before they fully laid the concrete. The next day he was there again, but the cabinet wasn't. Someone had nicked it before the concrete had set...
 
scarps said:
What about the elderly, are they going down the pub for a meal too?

Some people are going to be sat in the dark and cold not really knowing what's happening so they will try and call a relative to see what's happening, can't do that if the phones are off too.

These blackouts are BS, be putting some people in danger as not everyone will know they are possibly happening.

That list of times and days it might go off, 12.30am to 3.30am on a Sunday, what's the point, hardly anyone will be using a great deal of energy at this time, what's it saving? minimal amounts. Plus they want us to use more energy out of peak hours, well that's off the table now doing some washing after midnight
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A lot of pubs around here are closing and the next set of towns. To be demolished for houses. Some going under because of the energy prices.

The social aspect is being destroyed in between a number of pubs not staying open as long in the evening. Cities are another matter altogether.
 
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V F said:
A lot of pubs around here are closing and the next set of towns. To be demolished for houses. Some going under because of the energy prices.

The social aspect is being destroyed in between a number of pubs not staying open as long in the evening. Cities are another matter altogether.
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Happening in the big smoke too. I've lost three local watering holes in the last 5 years or so, theres only one indi and a spoons near me now, else it's a bus ride to the next nice pub
 
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d_brennen said:
Happening in the big smoke too. I've lost three local watering holes in the last 5 years or so, theres only one indi and a spoons near me now, else it's a bus ride to the next nice pub
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Sometimes it's crazy thinking how life seemed to be so simple. Older people went to the local Bingo Halls for heat and the social aspect. Or even just family. They're gone as well now. Heck, all the toilets are even gone here to save money. Alleys between shops has been stinking of urine at night for years.

There's a few pubs left here but it's the crappy small ones that's left that's not got a great deal of room and it's not the pubs you could also eat in. They're mainly gone or about to be completely gone.

Sometimes I find it frighteningly unreal now seeing your own town erode away in recent years. The city however, an hour drive.

Worst part is, we're not even near April and this is happening.
 
i love a good country pub. back where I come from there was a fab one on the edge of a lake and forest. that still does well due to tourism but others in the village less so. I am not saying it's a bad thing but as well as prices the clamp down on drink driving (rightfully so) also has surely had an effect not many want to walk 3 miles each way to the pub

in my village there is no public transport worth a damn and taxis are hit and miss - and when they do show cost a fortune. (esp if they know it is just to go a few miles)

back in my parents generation if you could walk in a straight line you were sober and even if not most coppers turned a blind eye. even 30 years ago when I worked in my local people thought nothing of drink driving.
 
delta0 said:
The number of drones that are being flown around Norwegian gas supplies is worrying. Does make you think if they would start to target these in which case we will very quickly start going days without power.
www.euronews.com

Fears grow as more drones appear above Norway's offshore facilities

Amund Revheim, who heads the North Sea and environment group for Norway's South West Police force, said his team interviewed more than 70 offshore workers who have spotted drones near their facilities.
www.euronews.com www.euronews.com
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I don't see Russia attacking a NATO country. He and Russia would get annihilated.
 
Blackjack Davy said:
Exchanges have their own supply thats always been the case have its why when theres a power cut the phones still work (landline)
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Thats only for copper phone lines - in many parts of the country you already can't get one and all existing copper lines are planned to be switched off by 2025.

If you have a fibre landline then you'll need your own battery backup for the OTN and router.

At work for Y2K we had a huge generator in a shipping container sat at the side of the building with an equally huge diesel tank on a trailer.

BT was a large customer of ours at the time and wanted an assurance our software would work with Y2k. We said we'd only give that if they'd give us an assurance all our phones and wan links would work due to y2k - No written guarantee was forthcomming !
 
Here in the US, my motherin-law just messaged me to show me her ~$1300 bill to fill her heating oil tank. $5.54 a US gallon. (something like double the normal price).

Electricity is also up, so it's gonna likely be some weird balancing act between the two, and burning the children's clothes for heat ;)
 
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So the kids have got wind of this (thanks scaremongering newspapers) they are now demanding extra power banks for the phones.... 3hrs and its meltdown already. Going to be lots of shed tidying with camping lights i think :)
 
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