“Put your washing machine on at night”: People urged to sign up to energy suppliers’ money-back schemes to avoid prospect of three-hour blackouts this winter
People are being encouraged to help avoid blackouts, "save money and back Britain" by using more energy during off-peak times.
It is the most dire of three possible scenarios that the ESO laid out on Thursday for how Britain's electricity grid might cope with the worst global energy crisis for decades. To tackle a loss of imports from France, Belgium and the Netherlands, there are two gigawatts of coal-fired power plants on stand-by to fire up if needed to meet demand.
In addition, larger businesses will be paid for reducing demand, for example by shifting their times of energy use or switching to batteries or generators in peak times.The "demand flexibility service" will run from November to March, and it is expected to swing into action 12 times whatever happens to ensure people get rewarded for being part of the scheme - with additional use if needed to protect supplies.
The ESO also warned that if there is not enough gas to keep the country's power stations going in January it could force distributors to cut off electricity to households and businesses for three-hour blocks during the day. Gas power plants are expected to use around a fifth more gas this winter, according to the outlook from the Gas Transmission arm of National Grid.
If this happens Britain will need to start importing gas from storage sites in mainland Europe at high prices.If the cold snap happens early in the winter when storage sites are still relatively full they can supply all of the extra gas needed.
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