Will you join The Big Power Off?

Futile gesture. We need real help from government but Johnson doesn't care abd he's got Ukraine as political veneer. If he gets a partygate fine he'll regard it as a parking ticket, nothing to bother about.

i won't be switching off as it takes so much time to reset clocks and timers and, i'm sorry, i don't see the point in switching off anyway.
and, another thing, i can't reach the mains switch as it's over the top of the fridge/freezer housing.

You won’t need to reset everything if you turn off at the main plug switch. As That’s what I used to think and do until someone told me as it should reset itself. Mine did so I didn’t have to restart everything. I now turn all of mine off at bedtime. If you leaving stuff on standby you obviously got money to waste and feed the fat cats. Didn’t know about Martin thing but I will next time. If we don’t stand together however will we get the government to take notice and take their heads out the sand.

It's not a Martin thing.

If everyone did this it would destabilise the grid. In theory people could be off for a lot longer. Will they then be expecting compensation from their provider?

I understand the sentiment behind it, but it's pointless. So no I won't.

whats the point!!

No, absolutely not, it’s pointless.

Wales!!! They don't even pay for their prescriptions or for parking in Hospitals so they can use that money to pay for their extra power costs. Joking aside, (and that was a joke) I would do it if I thought the whole country (UK) was doing it and not just bits of it. I cant see what use it will be it there was only a handful of people for just 10 minutes.

I have to say though that about 20 years ago in Canada the whole country went on strike for one day just because they put the tax up on cigarettes.

Nope. next question

I didn't clap for covid either

Thank God the Jarrow Marchers of the 1930s didn’t have the defeatist attitude displayed by some here. What if they’d said it was too inconvenient to March from Jarrow to London; won’t make any difference; it’s a ‘futile gesture’?

Despite the initial sense of failure among the marchers, in subsequent years, the Jarrow March became recognised by historians as a defining event of the 1930s. It helped to foster the change in attitudes which prepared the way to social reform measures after the Second World War, which their proponents thought would improve working conditions

History is littered with similar acts of solidarity. What on earth has happened to UK society today?

I did not clap for COVID, the doctors not fighting COVID were busy trying to kill my daughter by neglect.

M0nica with the greatest respect and sincere condolences for the tragedy you suffered, but the topic of this thread is not ‘clapping for Covid’, it is the ‘Big Power Off’.

I've already done my big switch-off. Before setting off for a 3 month visit to my family in Australia I switched off my (emptied) fridge/freezer and gas boiler. It should save me quite a bit of cash. I didn't switch off at the mains, as people will be popping in to keep an eye on the place.
I will have to cause my own mini-surge when I get back and switch on. ?

I'd happily do this every day for half an hour, we love an excuse to make hot chocolate, lights some candles and get the board games out

LizzieDrip someone mentioned not clapping for COvid and i just commented on that, which is entirely approriate and within the rules of GN.

Nothing any of us do will cause the National Grid any problem. They have been prepared for instability, surges and the opposite since we began to depend on wind as a source of energy. they have systems in place and run exercises to cover all possibilities.

In the very unlikely event that the number of people making this gesture, led to a bigger loss of power than can happen when there are sudden surges as a result of the natural variation in wind power and there is a grid collapse, the only people to suffer will be the consumer. NG will just automatically put into action all those procedures it has long practised and be prepared for and get the grid up and running again.

As it is, I doubt anyone will notice, or be inconvenienced, least of all the National Grid.

Pointless virtue signalling, as M0nica says above.

When many people speak out, their voices have a powerful effect on receivers. Often movements that appear to start out as ‘virtue signalling’ actually go on to make a difference. IMO.

I don't think its pointless virtue signalling, I think its about trying to do something important.

But I agree with M0nica in that it won't have the effect they think it will.

Sometimes doing something is better than doing nothing

Even if it's just the environmental that gets the benefit

I agree, MOnica and volver, it won’t impact the energy companies or even the government, but I don’t believe that is the point of the action. The aim is the message; the communal voice; the process. Essentially, we are powerless against the energy companies - at least this action conveys a message. It’s not about messing up the national grid etc!

Has anyone considered the effect on those people who rely on electricity for life preserving equipment? It seems pretty childish to manufacture a huge surge which could cause power cuts - ultimately a good deal more inconvenient.

Coco51 This is exactly the point I have tried to make. The only people who will suffer if this campaign is effective will be those customers who are vulnerable, because they relie on medical equipment, because they need supervision or will be terrified by the lights going out, then there are Care hmes and nursing homes, schools and nurseries, shops and businesses.

I do not oppose this scheme because not only because iit is ineffectual but because it will be counter productive, doing most damage to those who will most suffer if there is a power cut and none at all to the energy system in this country, neither National Grid, nor those who supply or sell energy. The National Grid just owns the transmission system, others supply the energy.

And of course, lots of diesel generators will be turned on to provide emergency back up for hospitals and the National Grid will probably be using diesel generation sets to get the Grid working again - and we all know how polluting diesel engines are, whether in cars or generating electricity.

Second para, take 'because not only ' out of first line

No, I won’t join in.