It read as follows:-

“Hi, this is National Grid. Hot weather can affect the network, so power cuts may be more common than usual.” It then gives advice on preparing for power cuts and then suggests those with medical issues contact them.

Now at an individual level, we get power cuts on a regular basis, living in a rural area this seems par for the course. Ironically, we had a brief interruption today (Friday morning).

So, let’s cut to the chase, those advocating an all-electric future need to address the infrastructure issue and quickly. If they can’t (and if heatwaves genuinely cause greater issues with the network), then the question needs to be asked, is electrification the answer? And I haven’t even touched on the controversy around NESO and risk of outages.

For fairness, I also did some digging around the reliability of the gas networks. Afterall, if they also suffer from a spell of hot weather, a cold snap or strong winds, then we have a much greater problem. But I am relieved, although not surprised to find out that such fragility does not exist with gas networks.

According to Ofgem, most gas consumers will never experience an unplanned gas supply interruption during a typical year and emergency response standards require operators to attend escapes within one hour. In short, the UK’s gas network is one of the most reliable pieces of national infrastructure.

Perhaps the most telling point is that Ofgem measure gas supply interruption duration, rather than frequency of interruptions, because they are so rare that measuring the number of interruptions is irrelevant.

That should be the standard aimed for by all of our energy infrastructure so that consumers not only come first but they also have confidence that when they need energy it is there for them.