Winter blackout contingency planning

mmmmikey

Thanks both - I know it's a touchy subject and was a bit concerned that I might have caused offence

[Deleted User]

Bear in mind that those of us in our 70s and older lived through the three day week. I recall that it was a very cold Winter. When I mentioned this to my late Mother she gently reminded me that she had lived through the 2nd World War blitz and the Germans didn’t provide any prior notification of power outages! 

SAC2334

matelodave said:

This is the gas storage capacity for various countries in Europe and we are bottom by quite a bit https://www.statista.com/statistics/688149/underground-gas-storage-volume-by-country-europe/

Centrica say it has the capability of being the largest long term storage in Europehttps://www.centrica.com/media-centre/news/2022/centrica-re-opens-rough-storage-facility/

[Deleted User]

Centrica say it has the capability of being the largest long term storage in Europe

According to other media reports last week, we shouldn’t be complacent. The re-opened Rough site will meet just 1% of the UK’s demand on a cold day.

ariarnia

[Deleted User] said:

Bear in mind that those of us in our 70s and older lived through the three day week. I recall that it was a very cold Winter. When I mentioned this to my late Mother she gently reminded me that she had lived through the 2nd World War blitz and the Germans didn’t provide any prior notification of power outages! 

when we were talking to the mil this came up. she's of the view things would be harder now because back then most people had open fires or stoves or gas cookers. not that gas wasnt its own risk if you were in an area with bombing. so for us it wont be much of a problem because we can cook on the stove and it gives heat and light (and we've bought some camping lamps with rechargeable batteries).

its people in flats with all electric who would struggle the most i think. right now its dark before OH and the kids get home and on grey days dark when there leaving again. if you live alone in a flat then you could be coming home to a dark cold house and have no way to make a hot drink or something to eat. in that situation knowing when blackouts might happen in advance and getting a slow cooker or seeing if theres a caf or pub or takeaway thats in a different block from you and maybe buying a camping lamp so you can read for a couple of hours or something would make sense. but hopefully they either dont happen or its just the odd day here or there. 

[Deleted User]

ariarnia said:

[Deleted User] said:

Bear in mind that those of us in our 70s and older lived through the three day week. I recall that it was a very cold Winter. When I mentioned this to my late Mother she gently reminded me that she had lived through the 2nd World War blitz and the Germans didn’t provide any prior notification of power outages! 

... you could be coming home to a dark cold house and have no way to make a hot drink or something to eat. 

I think this is a bit dramatic, hot drinks aren't essential and you can make a full meal without electricity, you don't have to cook a sandwich.

Chrysalis

I think the cuts will be hardest on those who are alone, as its far easier to deal with when you have people to talk to, play board games with etc.  Hopefully I will have someone to be with if and when it happens, but if not I get power cuts most years anyway.  I will take a nap.

ariarnia

[Deleted User] said:

ariarnia said:

[Deleted User] said:

Bear in mind that those of us in our 70s and older lived through the three day week. I recall that it was a very cold Winter. When I mentioned this to my late Mother she gently reminded me that she had lived through the 2nd World War blitz and the Germans didn’t provide any prior notification of power outages! 

... you could be coming home to a dark cold house and have no way to make a hot drink or something to eat. 

I think this is a bit dramatic, hot drinks aren't essential and you can make a full meal without electricity, you don't have to cook a sandwich.

we've had the conversation about 'essential' before  its about relative experience and comfort vs the relatively small cost of some basic things to make life more comfortable.

after a full days work (plus commute) on a cold wet winters day then sometimes all people really want is a hot drink/meal. winter is tiring and depressing for a lot of people. january and febuary can be entirely miserable months even without powercuts.

and there's a not small group of people who live entirely by electric (often living alone and in flats) so a badly timed power cut has the potential to make them a lot more miserable than people like us in our house with other people alternative cooking and heating and hobbies that dont require electric. those are the people who will benifit most from knowing what block they are in and thinking about what they can do now so if theres a power cut (or more than one) they can be more comfortable. 

[Deleted User]

ariarnia said:

[Deleted User] said:

ariarnia said:

Dolor said:

Bear in mind that those of us in our 70s and older lived through the three day week. I recall that it was a very cold Winter. When I mentioned this to my late Mother she gently reminded me that she had lived through the 2nd World War blitz and the Germans didn’t provide any prior notification of power outages! 

... you could be coming home to a dark cold house and have no way to make a hot drink or something to eat. 

I think this is a bit dramatic, hot drinks aren't essential and you can make a full meal without electricity, you don't have to cook a sandwich.

we've had the conversation about 'essential' before  its about relative experience and comfort vs the relatively small cost of some basic things to make life more comfortable.

after a full days work (plus commute) on a cold wet winters day then sometimes all people really want is a hot drink/meal. winter is tiring and depressing for a lot of people. january and febuary can be entirely miserable months even without powercuts.

and there's a not small group of people who live entirely by electric (often living alone and in flats) so a badly timed power cut has the potential to make them a lot more miserable than people like us in our house with other people alternative cooking and heating and hobbies that dont require electric. those are the people who will benifit most from knowing what block they are in and thinking about what they can do now so if theres a power cut (or more than one) they can be more comfortable. 

Just my opinion, but I say being "comfortable" in an emergency situation isn't a priority, people just need to stay safe and survive.

My parents remind me of the times they spend many nights in air raid shelters in the dark and cold but they survived and lived a long life. 

Being prepared is half the battle with thing like this, having a plan means that unexpected power outages can be dealt with and are quite exciting when your emergency plans come into play.

Part of my job role involves planning for emergencies, had one this week when a tree fell on a powerline and resulted in an unexpected power outage to one of my offices. We had a plan, executed the plan, everything was ok. 

MattMattMattUK

Chrysalis said:

I think the cuts will be hardest on those who are alone, as its far easier to deal with when you have people to talk to, play board games with etc.  Hopefully I will have someone to be with if and when it happens, but if not I get power cuts most years anyway.  I will take a nap.

I live alone, I will have a fully charged laptop, phone, tablet, Nintendo Switch, three high capacity power banks (1 x 10,000mAh, 2 x 22,000mAh), torches, camping lantern, batteries, several hundred books, about 1,300 hours of offline music on Spotify, I can stream through my phone etc. that is more than enough to keep me entertained for a three hour power cut and even ignoring the camping stove I am perfectly capable of lasting three hours without eating hot food. Either that or I could just go to the pub!

If one cannot cope for three hours and find ways to stay entertained then there are far bigger issues than a few three hour power cuts. 

Edit to add: I think such dire times as these, all single people should go to the pub during evening power cuts, it is the right thing to do to look out for your fellow singletons in a safe, warm, welcoming environment.