Zahawi says it’s ‘extremely unlikely’ UK will have winter energy blackouts
It is “extremely unlikely” the UK will face planned energy blackouts through winter, Cabinet Office minister Nadhim Zahawi has said.
Zahawi said “we plan for every scenario”, but that there is a “buffer” of energy supplies that will get the UK through winter.
National Grid said earlier this week that British households should cut their energy consumption over winter, while also warning that there could be rolling three-hour blackouts in the “extreme” worst case scenario.
The energy operator said that blackouts would only happen if generators cannot secure enough gas or electricity imports from European countries.
Zahawi told Sky News that the government was prepared for winter and the “extremely unlikely scenario where there’s issues in Europe with the interconncectors”.
“We’ve got a couple things that we’ve done that help us deal with winter, and of course war on our continent is the cause of us being very focused on us making sure we have resilience over winter,” he said.
“We’ve got the second largest LNG processing infrastructure in Europe. Half of our gas we produce here at home – we want to go further.
“All I would say is we have a buffer, the same buffer as last year, and so I’m confident that come Christmas, come the cold weather, we will continue to be in that resilient place, but it’s only right we have looked at every scenario.”
Prime Minister Liz Truss has vetoed a plan by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) to roll out a £15m campaign to advertise how people can cut their energy consumption over winter.
Zahawi said that there was still information available on government websites on how to reduce energy usage.
“What the National Grid is doing with Ofgem is also having a communication programme to tell people how they can do better,” he said.
“We, ourselves, if you go on gov.uk you will be able to see how you can actually help your home or your business conserve energy.”