It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

newlywed

In our city I think if there were weekly planned power cuts with no street lights either, there would be an increase of car thefts and house break ins…

which might be something else to think about, depending on where you live…

Katiehound

Hannimal said:

I think we can get through a powercut or two - haven't we all already! I agree these would be planned ones. I always wonder why we don't have more "earth hours" that could actually save our economy quite a bit and have an impact on the environment. If we did a (voluntary) 1h earth hour a week, lighting up fewer streets, and so on, I think most people would happily join in. I'd really welcome more campaigns towards using sustainable modes of transport and so on. I know it is very unlikely councils will sponsor free bus passes, but what about free 10-20 journeys on public transport per year? Give that to everyone and I think it would make a bit of a difference. I just feel there are small, relatively cheap ways of motivating people to change their habits that could have a meaningful impact. 

Well, where I live there's not a lot of point giving anything away with public transport as it is so poor. I hour journey to nearest large town- & that's an hourly service. 14 miles from nearest station & no public transport to that. A car is essential round here, and there must be loads of places in the country that are served the same- or worse.

No thank you I don't want 1 dark hour per week.
Our street lights go off from midnight to 6 am & that suits me but some residents complain about that!
 I have solar panels. I don't want to sit in the dark with candles.
I don't have a television & nothing on standby in this house!

leftatthetrafficlights

I'm not bothered about the potential of planned power cuts by companies but it's sensible to consider how/what you would need to adapt should there be a few days without power considering people did find themselves in that situation during the storms over the past 12-18 months. However, I agree that a bit of perspective is required - the world will not stop turning just because we may be inconvenienced for a while! 

I live in the sticks, I've been snowed in for a few days before and I've been in a situation where we've had no heating or hot water for a couple of weeks previously - it wasn't a pleasant experience but it also wasn't a major disaster! 

GaleSF63

Bigjenny said:

During the power cuts in the 70's, we had a timetable of when the cuts would be in our area, around 3-4 hours if I remember, may have been longer, so we could plan ahead.

I think the cuts lasted 3 hours at a time, and I don't remember how often they were, but not every other 3 hours. It didn't take so much organising as we didn't have so many things relying on electricity then. In our case I think it was just lights, immersion heater and fridge so with a few candles we managed fine. The zones weren't very big either so nearby friends or shops might be in a different zone. If we have cuts now I just get the feeling there might be large areas out at once. Imagine when the power goes back on the surge of kitchen appliances, technical stuff, chargers etc. all going on at once!

joedenise

I suppose we're quite lucky as we have a motorhome which we keep on the drive so if there are power cuts we can always go out into the van and watch TV with lights on (all on battery) and cook a meal on gas although I would prefer it to just be something which I've previously made and just need to reheat so as not to use too much gas.

YorksLass

Our power cuts in the 70s were for 4 hours at a time on a rotation of days that alternated each week.  At the time we were living on the 15th floor of a multi storey block but the lifts were obviously not working during the cuts.  Even though I was only in my twenties it was no fun having to climb up all those stairs, sometimes carrying shopping bags after working all day.  We had to plan our days around the cuts - where do we need to go and when, can we change the times and so on.  Not so easy if you still had to go out to work - no working from home back then.  Even worse for those who were elderly/disabled or had young children.  I can imagine for them it must have felt like being in prison at times.  Our local shops and pubs stayed open during the cuts and used tilly lamps for lighting and pen & paper for adding up.  With those memories, I for one wouldn't relish the thoughts of rationed hours again.

London_1

Gosh I remember them so well I was working and my children were at my friends One after school at 5, and one at home only 3.
I was working at Erith Town Hall helping to organise the local arts festival, and every year the Bexley Council gave out cups etc to the children who came from all over the county for Music,Dance, Drama competitions etc
The main cups were kept in the basement of the building which was actually around four-five floors beneath the building,one floor below the civil defence floor which held emergency council supplies of food etc .
I would go down in the lift to collect these blessed cups, hoping and praying that the electric stayed on, and I wasn't marooned down there in the dark I always had to take a torch with me just in case as the only way up was the lift

We lived in Dartford then, and after the initial first week or so, there was a list of times pinned to the window of the local LEB shop in the centre of Dartford so you would drive down there make a list of potential times you would lose your electricity and pin it on the fridge, and hope you could get your dinner cooked before the lights went off

Candles were like gold bullion and not nice smelly ones like today, just plain white ones. But of course there were a lot less gadgets to stress about then .
I only had a fridge ,not freezer, and certainly no internet or phone to charge up, but I did cook on electric so a makeshift haybox made from my childrens toy box and cushions, blankets and pillows was made, or I would scurry down to my friends with a half cooked dinner for her to finish off in her gas oven .

But we survived, and the kids thought it was exciting sitting by candlelight eating their dinner . 
Where I live in Kent the local council turn the street lights off alternatley down the street after 10.00 so only half the street lights work and even on the A2 coming down from London after 10.00pm  they are switched off to save energy This has been normal for at least the past year.

On the upside I guess at least your energy bills will be less as you are using less 

JackieO xx

Onebrokelady

I'm buying a camping lamp that is also a charging bank for my phone. It's rechargeable so can be charged while the supplies are on. I do have a landline so need my phone to work in case my elderly parents need to get hold of me. I'm also going out tomorrow to stock up on candles and batteries for our torches

Ive just visited website of the company that manufacture Tilly lamps and they are out of stock 

Onebrokelady

I was a child when the power cuts of the 70s happened and it seemed like an adventure to us at the time. Families just got on with it but weren't so dependent on electric back then. I can imagine it will be a shock for people today when they realise they can't just charge up their gadgets when they feel like it. We were also lucky because we had a coal fire but I do remember coal being hard to get hold of and it was kept in the house instead of outside because desperate people were stealing it 

greent

I remember the power cuts of the 70s - but I was a small child. Our fridge was gas, so that wasn't a problem and the only heating was a single gas fire in the living room/ kitchen - single purpose room (council maisonette - only other rooms were 2 bedrooms and a very chilly bathroom with brick walls - no plaster over the brick. And obviously single glazed , badly fitting metal windows 😁) . We also had a gas oven. None of the ignitions worked on the appliances, so all had to be lit with a match whether there was electricity or not. Meant the only difference to us in reality was lighting and a bit of TV. We had candles and the firelight and both my mum and myself were avid readers or played board/ card games. More of an issue for my household now than back then. Whilst we have a gas fire it is only able to be lit by the ignition- it's a sealed fire. A large f/f in the kitchen and then 2 small freezers in the garage (there are 6 of us and there is currently plenty of frozen HG produce and YS meat) The gas hob (on top of electric ovens) could be lit, though - so we could eat hob based meals if caught out - and also boil a camping kettle for the necessary cups of tea! I would hope it would be done in areas if it happens - if so then my best friend lives in a different area and if it worked we could decamp to each other's homes if required. Washing in cold water (or topped up with a hot kettle) is fine, though. We have a few hot water bottles we could use -  and many, many duvets to layer on beds if necessary.

It's doable for most people- it would take planning and would be a pain. Not sure how some people would manage, though.

And whilst we'd certainly use less electricity the standing charges wouldn't be affected