Winter blackout contingency planning

EssexHebridean

The little USB chargeable reading light I ordered arrived yesterday, and we're very impressed - three different brightnesses - the lowest of which would be perfectly suitable for use for reading if other lights were out. The brightest will be great for me to crochet by in the dark evenings as our existing table lamp just isn't bright enough particularly if I'm using dark yarn. It's an item that will be useful regardless, but will definitely come into its own if we do have power outages whether planned or otherwise. Being lightweight and relatively small it will also be very portable if needed to provide light in the kitchen, for example. 

jimjames

brewerdave said:

victor2 said:

Planeteer said:

With the UK's energy dependencies and the reluctance of a PM - increasingly seeming on daily wages - to inform the people of sensible planning or preparations for winter blackouts, are there any other sources of steps to take for household energy management in the winter? How does one minimise impact? Wouldn't be bad for MSE/ML to take a stance for consumers again, just as he did for pricing?

Very unlikely, just the media looking for headlines. But talk to anyone who was around in the 1970's when power cuts were a part of life, for ideas on how to survive power outages. Domestic gas will not get cut off, in the worst case electricity might, but even then it will be on a pre-announced schedule and for a few hours at a time.

Consumers can look at ways to reduce their usage, which many are doing already. It saves money and reduces the load on the grid.

But unfortunately C/Heating systems won't run without leccy and not many people have still got gas fires.

. As someone who also was round for the power cuts of the 70s, torches and a plentiful supply of batteries is key -nothing worse than falling over in the dark!  And a thick jumper in case it is really cold at the time.

Fortunately we now have LED bulbs and rechargeable batteries so somewhat easier to have light other than candles

ariarnia

wittynamegoeshere said:

To me, going to great lengths to avoid disrupting a routine that isn't actually necessary seems illogical.  The "routine" itself is the problem, not the disturbance.  I'm pretty sure most people could accommodate a little disruption or may even enjoy the novelty of the situation.  I appreciate that for some others then avoiding the disturbance may actually be the least disruptive option.  But if I was the one whose needs I needed to cater for then I'd be asking myself a few questions before heading to the camping shop or preppers website, rather than just accepting that change is always bad and must be avoided at all costs.

that's your choice. but can you explain how buying a camping stove from amazon for a few quid is going to great lengths? we all do lots of things every day that aren't necessary. all we necessarily have to do is eat/drink a minimal amount of calories and stay warm enough we don't die of hypothermia. everything else is because we want to and it makes us happy/more comfortable. if we have time to get some things before any planned blackouts that we will enjoy or will make us more comfortable and we can afford those things then why shouldn't people be free to get or arrange those things without others accusing them of excessive worrying or being illogical. that was the whole point of the op not emergency planning for the bare minimum of survival. 

ariarnia

jimjames said:

brewerdave said:

victor2 said:

Planeteer said:

With the UK's energy dependencies and the reluctance of a PM - increasingly seeming on daily wages - to inform the people of sensible planning or preparations for winter blackouts, are there any other sources of steps to take for household energy management in the winter? How does one minimise impact? Wouldn't be bad for MSE/ML to take a stance for consumers again, just as he did for pricing?

Very unlikely, just the media looking for headlines. But talk to anyone who was around in the 1970's when power cuts were a part of life, for ideas on how to survive power outages. Domestic gas will not get cut off, in the worst case electricity might, but even then it will be on a pre-announced schedule and for a few hours at a time.

Consumers can look at ways to reduce their usage, which many are doing already. It saves money and reduces the load on the grid.

But unfortunately C/Heating systems won't run without leccy and not many people have still got gas fires.

. As someone who also was round for the power cuts of the 70s, torches and a plentiful supply of batteries is key -nothing worse than falling over in the dark!  And a thick jumper in case it is really cold at the time.

Fortunately we now have LED bulbs and rechargeable batteries so somewhat easier to have light other than candles

and a lot safer (especially for those of us with children and pets). we might light a few candles for the 'atmosphere' and will probably have the stove lit anyway as we light it most evenings in winter but we did pick up a few torches a few weeks ago. not specifically because we think there will be blackouts but because i was looking at our winter to do list and putting up the curtains and it occurred to me we only had one torch in the house and that often makes it way out to the car so it seemed logical to me we have some small rechargeable lights that had 'homes' for if needed so everyone would know were they were and wouldn't go flying down the stairs in the dark. 

Eldi_Dos

EssexHebridean said:

The little USB chargeable reading light I ordered arrived yesterday, and we're very impressed - three different brightnesses - the lowest of which would be perfectly suitable for use for reading if other lights were out. The brightest will be great for me to crochet by in the dark evenings as our existing table lamp just isn't bright enough particularly if I'm using dark yarn. It's an item that will be useful regardless, but will definitely come into its own if we do have power outages whether planned or otherwise. Being lightweight and relatively small it will also be very portable if needed to provide light in the kitchen, for example. 

The ones with a clip and adjustable swan neck are very handy if you are wanting to read and partner prefers watching tv in the dark or going to sleep.

killerferret666

If you want lights, ability to entertain kids with tv, games etc...

Just get a couple of powerbanks, maximum capacity of 27000mah id recommend if you travel (some come with bendy reading light), this is because this is the maximum you can take on as hand luggage on a plane, so can have a purpose outside of this too

That will happily charge a phone many times and if you have a new laptop that charges off USB-C the right models of power bank will run a laptop too. Phone in hotspot mode for netflix. As I doubt the phone network will have power taken down because it would effect emergencies / emergency service. 


I cant help with heat, but above helps with lights & entertainment.

I don't even expect this to happen, takes a few steps to get to blackouts.

Astria

Ultrasonic said:

Crazycatlady2 said:

No internet I could cope with for a few hours as can use mobile phone hotspot just got to make sure iPad charged and have a portable charge I can make sure is too. 

Bear in mind that mobile internet access may also be offline.

The only phone you can rely on in a power cut is the BT land line, because they are powered from the exchange which typically has both backup battery and diesel generators. Virgin Media land lines typically don't work once the local cabinet loses power, and if the line was installed in the last 5 years or so, plugs into the router so fails as soon as power to that is lost.

Crazycatlady2

Well I didn’t know that so I guess I better rethink 🤷‍♀️

ariarnia

this is the ofcom page on phones. i don't think it covers every option but suggests mobiles will work for at least short blackouts (and i would think planned blackouts they'd take steps to make sure they lasted for emergencies if that's something they can do)

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/problems/landlines-and-power-cuts

WelshPaul

Phone networks have both procedures and priority hardware in place for emergency services and other high priority services such as the National Grid. National Grid for example use the Vodafone network, Vodafone have a dedicated team assigned to deal with the National Grid and they even have code names for such services e.g. Dark Star.