Problems with electricity supply yesterday

No one has blamed Brexit as far as I can see! However, let's not let that stop the thread, why not simply blame the EU, we all know they are the ones at fault because they won't give us what we want and are forcing us on to WTO tariffs!

jura2

We live in the middle of 16 acres of woodland which has been classified as SSSI (about 75% of it.) Beyond that is farm land. We are hugely passionate about wildlife and have counted 28 species of birds that live with us . Favourites are the goldfinches that come on mass to the meadow and the pair of buzzards we see daily.

It's great you have such a variety but I'm pretty sure you'd be OK with a turbine.

Another thread is a good idea.

We were very lucky here in the south because we were surrounded by other areas affected but we were spared. It was all very strange but I doubt we will ever learn the truth.

I was about to have a MRI scan at Heath Road Hospital Ipswich. Talk about lucky escape!!!!

I am away from home this weekend but OH phoned me this morning to ask me how to reset the clock on the oven (which won't work unless the clock is set), so I know there was a powercut in our part of Northamptonshire. No idea what caused it though!

DD was on a train from Edinburgh. It got in a mere 9 hours late. Lots of misinformation, drinks but no food and toilets backed up. Passengers were given taxi vouchers when they finally made it to Kings X in the early hours but with 600 people in the queue she managed to get an uber and got home just before 2am!

I was so lucky, I was in central London before it happened and arrived home, N W London but we were not affected.

Believe whatever cr*p they feed you but I still say this was a cyber attack and just an inky tinky taste of what could come.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

It will be interesting to see what the investigation reveals.

I know nothing of how the grid works but it's curious that such discrete areas were affected: parts of London and SE, NW, SW, Wales & Newcastle airport. Or did they just share out the pain?

Two power stations failed simultaneously, one of them a wind farm - in a way it's pleasing that the failure of a wind farm can cause such havoc as I was under the impression that they were not very efficient!

I wonder if figures are available to show what percentage of our electricity suppliers (and other main services like gas, water, etc, etc) are owned by British firms or State owned. Anyone?

Exactly River Newcastle Airport and London ? Really ?

The National Grid is British-owned.

but the suppliers, like EDF, etc?

British Gas and SSE are British. E.ON and npower are German. EDF is French and Scottish Power is Spanish. The big 6 supply 95% of electricity in the UK.

However, the suppliers aren't responsible for the actual supply. The National Grid is.

Thanks- and yet- lets say we leve with No Deal and we don't pay our Debts to the EU - could they make life difficult, somehow?

In a way, they already make life difficult. Most of our electricity is supplied by companies HQed in other countries. No matter what the government does or says, they are the people who make decisions. That's even before the shareholders, who could be anywhere in the world, are taken into account. Privatising a utility as important as electricity was never going to have a happy ending.

I'm no expert, but I can't see that national governments have much to do with the utility companies. None of them is actually responsible for our supply. They're just middle(wo)men who collect the money.

...and collect their profits!