UK Power supplies Winter 2022/2023. Are you prepared ?

[Ethel Street]

1 hour ago, honeybee13 said:

Was it this complicated in the 70s when there were power cuts?

 

 

No. There was no fine tuning available for what got turned off as far as residential customers were concerned.  They could keep large users like hospitals on but for the rest of us a whole area at a time was disconnected for up to 3 hours and everything went off. It meant no TV but there were no mobiles and internet to worry about in those days. Most people had battery radios though. Landlines kept working. For most people it meant coal fire, candles and gas cooker if it went off in the evening. Only about 30% of people had central heating in the early 1970s but then, as now, most CH will stop in a powercut even if gas fired because it needs an electric pump to circulate the heat.

 

I'd only just left school but I remember that you got advance warning of when you might be cut off and the electricity industry put notices in local papers to tell you when you might be disconnected - 'rota disconnections' as they called them. Towns were divided into areas and for each 3 hour period areas were ranked in the order in which they might be cut off. Disconnection wasn't always needed but if it was the highest ranked area for that day was cut off first, then if more disconnections needed the next highest ranked, etc.

 

Areas were rotated of course so if you were highest ranked one day you were lowest ranked the next day and almost certainly wouldn't get cut off.  It worked something like that anyway, I don't remember every detail - I was too young to have to worry about it but it made my mother a bit grumpy. But I guess that she, like many others with families, had had the experience of WW2 when power could just disappear and you had to make the best of it.

 

 

[theoldrouge]

Not complicated at all 

You just adjusted and got on with your life 

And of course the reason that there may be power cuts is politicians obsessions with net zero and years of virtue signaling 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11289975/amp/DAILY-MAIL-COMMENT-Cold-comfort-green-energy-fiasco.html

[honeybee13]

What about people trying to cut back on their energy consumption by around 15 per cent like in Europe, so the whole system can keep running; TOR?

[theoldrouge]

Europe? Have you seen the clip of the German delegates smirking when President Trump warned them about their reliance on Russian gas a few years ago?

[brassnecked]

That's the reason they are asking people to do washing  off peak times and eat dinner later.to avoid instability in the grid between 4 and 7 pm.

[unclebulgaria67]

There is emergency powers legislation which enables ministers to make decisions without votes in parliament. 

 

I can just see that it would be an easier option to cut off via smart meters, rather than cutting off power to whole areas of the country.  When power is cut off to whole areas, then this would include care homes, sheltered housing units and other housing for vulnerable people. Whereas cuts via smart meters, if this were possible on any scale, might reduce usage enough, for supplies to be maintained to priority users including Hospitals.

[tobyjugg2]

All seems to have gone quiet on the reporting front since Johnson the corrupt mushroom manager

 

 

 

Change Proposal Register - DCUSA

WWW.DCUSA.CO.UK

 

 

Rota Load Block Alpha Identifiers - DCUSA

WWW.DCUSA.CO.UK

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The rota disconnection process is designed to enable customers to have an equal share of available power across the country on a rotational basis...

 

 

http://www.dcode.org.uk/assets/uploads/CACoP_Newsletter_03_-_January_2020.pdf

 

https://www.theade.co.uk/assets/docs/nws/LCT-LV_Last_Resort_Progress_Report_Version1.0_(2)_.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

[tobyjugg2]

@theoldrouge

 

Posting complete crap again - we'd be in a real mess without the renewable supplies now wouldn't we

AND they are 7 times cheaper than gas

- unless the price is set by the fossil fuel companies and next day fwee marketing - like it is .. to sell us OUR resources

 

... still hoping your dodoo will reach France perhaps?

- theres enough of ..it.

Edited October 8, 2022 by tobyjugg2

[tobyjugg2]

Heres an idea for green energy

Energy companies supply free exercise bikes that run generators which feed back through your meter for energy credit.

 

Improves your health and reduces your bills

 

.

48 minutes ago, unclebulgaria67 said:

There is emergency powers legislation which enables ministers to make decisions without votes in parliament. 

 

Yep

 

48 minutes ago, unclebulgaria67 said:

 

I can just see that it would be an easier option to cut off via smart meters, rather than cutting off power to whole areas of the country.  When power is cut off to whole areas, then this would include care homes, sheltered housing units and other housing for vulnerable people.

 

Yep. That will annoy them and lead to massive calls for them to be replaced

 

48 minutes ago, unclebulgaria67 said:

 

 

Whereas cuts via smart meters, if this were possible on any scale, might reduce usage enough, for supplies to be maintained to priority users including Hospitals.

 

Hospitals and even surgeries do tend to be on special and marked 'circuits - or at least they were.

Much depends on the capability at the substation.

 

Does seem that this gov is more about protecting private industry than consumers

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by tobyjugg2

[brassnecked]

"Heres an idea for green energy

Energy companies supply free exercise bikes that run generators which feed back through your meter for energy credit.

Improves your health and reduces your bills"

 

 

Well TJ that's exactly what they did in Soylent Green put a bike on a frame and pedaled to run a dynamo to charge a battery.............

[honeybee13]

We are the country taking the energy crisis least seriously. Even Shell’s boss is baffled | Will Hutton | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Blinded by ideology, the government is determined to pursue its own, self-defeating approach. Will it leave us all in the dark this winter?

 

[brassnecked]

Its becoming surreal, people are prepping for blackouts, Home bargs selling bags of 30 8 hour burn tealights for £2.50 and candles flying off the shelf. I have plenty of Propane for the camping stove,  batteries and LED lights.  Best be prepared eh?

[tobyjugg2]

prep'ers wet dream

All that potential wood burning gonna trash the environment too

(its humans burning trees that ....)

 

 

Carefull read shows how broken the system is:

 

‘Windfall tax’ on wind and solar companies set to be unveiled next week

WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

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Cap on revenues would prevent cost being offset against future investment – a perk enjoyed by oil and gas companies

 

[brassnecked]

The system was broken a long time ago TJ, Carbon Credits are a scam, we must take the austerity and be controlled whilst they carry on as usual.  The profits from Wind and Solar are are bolstered by subsidy, .

Guardian from last year

 

UK to offer £265m in subsidies for renewable energy developers | Renewable energy | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Wind, solar and tidal projects will compete for contracts, including funding for onshore schemes

 

[tobyjugg2]

16 hours ago, Ethel Street said:

 

Anyone know what's happened about this proposal?

 

The article is dated September 2020 and quotes Ofgem as saying a decision was likely in Spring 2021.

 

Possibly it's been quietly agreed when no-one was watching, but seems a bit unlikely that no journalist would have noticed if the supply industry and given itself powers this sweeping.

 

Maybe more likely it's been quietly moved to the backburner?

 

 

If you take a closer look at other legislation bullldozed through, and the 'grayness' (sic) of the (lack of) limitations and boundaries - you'll probably find they already can simply by calling it 'an emergency' or 'critical infrastructure'

 

eg

UK ministers gain power to allow lower-standard food imports | Meat industry | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Trade bill vote rejects Lords amendment giving MPs greater scrutiny of trade deals

 

[tobyjugg2]

28 minutes ago, brassnecked said:

The system was broken a long time ago TJ, Carbon Credits are a scam, we must take the austerity and be controlled whilst they carry on as usual.  The profits from Wind and Solar are are bolstered by subsidy, .

Guardian from last year

 

UK to offer £265m in subsidies for renewable energy developers | Renewable energy | The Guardian

WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM

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Wind, solar and tidal projects will compete for contracts, including funding for onshore schemes

 

 

 

You do realise that 264m in subsidies is utter peanuts compared to the breaks given to fossil fuel companies don't you?

and that the profits and jobs from renewables, as well as the energy from renewables is primarily UK benefiting

- as is largely NOT the case with fossil fuels.

The cons claimed we only have 4% exposure to Russian gas - yet look what has happaned.

 

 

If you actually READ that quite short article you will see that the high cost of energy is largely driven by the international fossil fuel next day trading system, which is also what renewables trade on - that all needs changing.

 

The article also examples where fossil fuel internationals get tax breaks that the renewables dont - a separate 'benefit' for the foreign profits fossil fuel companies at UK taxpayer expense which Truss is trying to use to 'break' renewables.

 

So, as well as opening us up to threats and actions by Russia and Saudi Arabia - as we have seen since before the Ukraine invasion and are seeing in increased oil costs as well as gas, fossil fuel comapnies are funding the support of government and driving up the costs.

 

The war in Ukraine doesn't make it any more expensive for Shell and BP or American or Saudi companies to pump their gas and oil

 

Switch down your preconceptions and give it a GOOD read - follow up confirm as you think fit.

It should change your perspective.

 

The fossil fuel companies are a MAJOR part of funding todays Guvernment (sic)

Edited October 9, 2022 by tobyjugg2

[tobyjugg2]

1 hour ago, brassnecked said:

Carbon Credits are a scam

 

 

Yes, they are

 

and I WAS a supporter of nuclear energy for decades, and in more recent years the potential of SMR (small modular reactors)  but no longer for a number of reasons, not least of which:

 

Mini nuclear power stations may produce more waste than large ones | New Scientist

WWW.NEWSCIENTIST.COM

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Small modular reactors produce higher volumes and greater complexity of radioactive waste because they are naturally less efficient, researchers find

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by tobyjugg2

[tobyjugg2]

Just a little point on the detail of kamikwazi and Truss's (sunack as well) tax RELIEF on the windfall tax on the obscene excess profits of energy companies which it seems many aren't aware of (and it does NOT appear to have changed - hope I'm wrong there) :

 

"companies that reinvest their profits in British oil and gas exploration will get back 90 per cent of the new tax in relief.

It means fossil fuel companies that invest in further oil and gas exploration in Britain will be given an overall saving of 91p for every £1 invested.

The tax offset only applies to investment in the oil and gas sector, meaning companies will receive no tax relief for investment in renewables."

 

"Boris Johnson had previously argued against a windfall tax, insisting that it would deter investment in renewable energy in the UK. "

 

Largely that means that provided the energy companies just drill for more oil and gas as they were going to anyway,- and dont spend money on renewables, they get all their windfall taxes back and then some.

 

 

What the windfall tax means for renewable energy and how reinvestment in oil and gas works

INEWS.CO.UK

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Climate campaigners have warned that the windfall tax is only a 'sticking plaster' to provide temporary relief on energy bills that in reality encourages...

 

 

[honeybee13]

 

[tobyjugg2]

particularly as the farmers have lost the EU subsidies and the EU market is far more difficult to sell to and get from ..

 

Seems to me, just like the 'give the fossil fuel companies even more tax relief than the windfall tax takes off them and refuse the same to the renewables suppliers' ...  an anti renewables, anti farmer, anti fisherman promote bankers and fossil fuels policy ..

 

After all they don't need the fishermen and farmers once they go their Brexit do they .. as they state (don't need Uk grown food)

[borisbeaver]

On 08/10/2022 at 18:54, unclebulgaria67 said:

There is emergency powers legislation which enables ministers to make decisions without votes in parliament. 

 

I can just see that it would be an easier option to cut off via smart meters, rather than cutting off power to whole areas of the country.  When power is cut off to whole areas, then this would include care homes, sheltered housing units and other housing for vulnerable people. Whereas cuts via smart meters, if this were possible on any scale, might reduce usage enough, for supplies to be maintained to priority users including Hospitals.

Thank fudge I don't have a smart meter

[honeybee13]

I agree with you. They kept quiet about that, didn't they?

[tobyjugg2]

I can remember 40 years ago, during early trials, consumer disconnection similar to the way some HV consumers were, was always one of the 'benefits' although the test customers were informed of that at the time.

 

As was extending/adding to ecomomy 7 tarriffs - aka time of use tariffs to encourage use outside of peak periods

It did seem more honest at the time with some real benefits.

 

Shame it didnt continue that way once it went out of engineers hands and to the 'make a halfpenpy and shaft the user' bean counters.

We see on all forums the rampant deceit of the energy companies in 'selling (forcing) them ... driven by politicians

Edited October 11, 2022 by tobyjugg2

[tobyjugg2]

Renewable energy meets 107% of rise in global electricity demand in 2022

Figures released by UK-based energy think tank Ember this week estimated that increased production of solar, wind and hydro power in the first six months of 2022 accounted for 107 per cent of the growth in global demand during the same period. Electricity generation from both gas and coal also fell in the first half of the year.

Globally, there was an increase in electricity demand of 389 terawatt hours – a rise of 3 per cent year-on-year – with more than half of that coming from the US and China.   While the US was unable to meet this increase in demand with renewable energy sources alone, China satisfied nearly double its increased demand with wind, solar and hydro sources.

Edited October 13, 2022 by tobyjugg2

[tobyjugg2]

So of the fuel price increases at the pump over the last year:

Average (not peak) price increase over the period is stated as around 40p

 

Fall in value of pound = 7p per liter rise -  as oil is traded in dollars (and thats pre Truss/Kwasi fiscal event)

= 33p left to explain

Increase in oil price (which is profit to oil producers) = 20p per liter  - although the average increase in oil prices is nearer that per BARREL

= 13p increase left to explain

Reduction in duty = (-5)p per liter

= back up to 18p increase to explain

 

 

So thats 18p (around  10% of the increase) as increased/excess profit excluding the base oil price increase,

+ at least most the 20p increased oil price in profit to oil producers (another 10%))

 

So thats 20% of the pump price, with all the knock on effects of other fuel prices - is purely profiteering, mainly using the invasion of Ukraine as a smoke screen)

 

Which Truss/Kharsi and the tories are not only effectively loading up UK debt to guarantee - but also trying to lock us into more of the ever increasing price spiral for decades longer.

 

Drop in sterling adds 7p per litre to fuel bills

WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

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The Competition and Markets Authority published a review into high pump prices.

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by tobyjugg2