Blackout Preparation?

My oil fired boiler won’t work without Electricity, our mobile phone won’t work in our area without Wifi, unless we trot down into the Village.

The plan is to get the Jackdaws nests out of the chimney in readiness for the Winter, (unfortunately, we haven’t found a Sweep who will come out and do it.) not much we can do about the Mobile signal. Plenty of candles and we have some portable gas stoves.
We will cope, we did it in the early 70s.

Good idea Teacheranne. I'm going to buy one of those. And a power pack for my phone. Be prepared! ?

People in my area had experience of blackouts last autumn, after Storm Arwen. No power for a week for some. I think ours was restored after five days. Luckily, someone gave us shelter in a holiday cottage but for those who had nowhere to go, it was an ordeal.

It seems sensible to me to smooth out demand. It’s like that old system of cheaper electricity at night that we used to have. Not sure if that still exists.

Baggs

Get candles.

I still have a stock of candles which my mother prudently bought in the 1970’s, when we had the 3 day week, and power cuts.

Good old mum, she always knew they would ‘come in handy sometime’.

We had a plan with red, white and blue days. ??
On red days (around 30 per year) the electricity per kWh cost over 3 times the price and on blue days half the price. You get used to it as part of your lifestyle, no appliances on - laundry, dishwasher, TV, kettle etc- on red days, though it's your choice.

Most of us don't have a smart meter so we shall be cross-subsidizing those who do. Not everyone is convinced smart meters are reliable or work if you change supplier.

Grantanow if you don’t have Economy7 you can apparently still sign up for it, I’ve had it years and it definitely saves money if you use it to full advantage.

If we can't cope with demand currently, how will we cope when electric car popularity soars?

I won't have a smart meter yet, due to reliability issues. Still, I always have candles, a wind-up torch, a camping stove, batteries for the radio - and lots of blankets, just in case. There's a Halfords power pack on charge in the garage, too. In the autumn, I'll get some fuel for the fire.

I'm sure I saw an article where a woman was charging her electric car cheaply at night - but using it as battery storage for her home.

I bathed my (then) baby during the blackouts in the 70s - the power in our area always went off at bath / bed time. We knew it was going to go off so were prepared with plenty of candles and camping lamps. I found it very calming actually and my daughter always slept well. Perhaps low lights, no TV etc are conducive to children’s bath / bed time If we do have blackouts this winter, we’ll just get prepared and we’ll manage - ensuring that any vulnerable neighbours are ok of course.

I've found it fascinating over the years that whenever we've had an electricity blackout, I can tell which houses in my street have older occupants - because you can see their candles lighting their rooms within a few minutes...
Like me, once you've got used to having candles & matches where you can put your hand on them quickly, it's still a habit - even 50 years later...?

I don't know how my youngest (19) would manage without the internet/power.?

We have candles - must stock up on matches!

Yes i remember we had power cuts when i was growing up.in the mid 70's i think.(I'm 58) we had water shortages with a street tap as well, and petrol shortages i think??

I'd better see where i put my xmas candles..they're in a box somewhere....?

Callistemon-?

When I was a child we had a coal fire, pack of playing cards and candles and we managed ok for a few hours. I've no coal fire, no one to play cards with, but a whole cupboard full of candles.

They shouldn't have got rid of coal fired power stations. There wouldn't have been a problem then.

My DH is on a condenser for Oxygen 24/7 the bottles of oxygen lasts 4 hours I'd have to set the alarm to change it in the middle of the night, using a ? to see what I'm doing ? oh can't set the alarm its on my phone

A couple of weeks into the invasion of Ukraine we bought wind-up torches and radio. Have long had a ’just in case’ camping gaz and bought some more canisters. We have a few packs of Evian and tins of soup, beans, powered milk etc. Keeping flour in stock as it couldn’t be had during lockdown. It makes sense to overbuy a little at a time so there’s no great toilet roll rush.

we are very unlikely to have domestic blackouts, manufacturing and industry are told to reduce electricity consumption if there is a strain on the grid. Domestic voltage would likely be reduced and has been at times

Nannan2

Yes i remember we had power cuts when i was growing up.in the mid 70's i think.(I'm 58) we had water shortages with a street tap as well, and petrol shortages i think??

Standpipes in the street in the very long, hot summer of 1976, because of water rationing Nannan2
I was washing two lots of terry nappies as disposables hadn't really been invented.

DH still has the petrol coupons somewhere!

I threw out an old triple candle holder after Christmas, silly me!

We live on the edge of Dartmoor, and get regular blackouts so each room has torches, lamps etc, both battery and solar powered.

Tbh it’s usually not pour people who cut their fuel , it’s usually the elderly . I have worked in local government and social housing for many years and food and heating are the last things to go , usually bills, rent and council tax go first

Calendargirl

Baggs

Get candles.

I still have a stock of candles which my mother prudently bought in the 1970’s, when we had the 3 day week, and power cuts.

Good old mum, she always knew they would ‘come in handy sometime’.

I had to laugh at that one. When my Dad had to go into a nursing home, a few years back, we had to clear his house to sell it. My mum had died 10 years earlier.

Under the stairs, we found over 200 candles, bought in the 1970s, by my mum.?

She never did anything by halves lol ?