Will Britain have to follow Germany’s lead and implement blackouts?

With the growing energy crisis it is very likely that Britain will have to follow Germany’s lead and implement nighttime electricity blackouts.

Experts have warned today, Friday, July 29, that with the energy crisis increasing, Britain may have to follow Germany’s lead and implement nighttime blackouts. German cities have already turned off central heating in public buildings as a way of saving electricity.

Homeowners in the UK face crippling energy bills this winter as a result of Vladimir Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Campaigners have already begged the government to implement an emergency fuel poverty plan to prevent the possibility of deaths this winter in households that can not afford to turn on the heating.

Earlier today, Spain’s Pedro Sanchez announced that energy-saving measures will be imposed in the country from August 1. These include setting maximum levels for air conditioning and heating systems in public buildings.

Speaking this morning on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Robert Buckley, from energy analysts Cornwall Insight, when quizzed about the situation in Germany, said: “I think what you raise is a really good point, and we’re in danger of running into this kind of thing involuntarily, because there is also a cost of business during a crisis here, because of these energy cost increases”.

Our expert Robert Buckley spoke to @BBCr4today on the impact of the energy crisis on businesses and the energy saving actions being taken in Germany.

With business energy bills rising exponentially, should the UK be looking at similar measures?

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— Cornwall Insight (@CornwallInsight) July 29, 2022

“We will go into a period where energy prices for business may be five, six, seven times where they’ve been historically – and what you’ll end up with there is that businesses can’t afford to run and actually businesses might themselves decide not to heat swimming pools or whatever”, he continued.

Mr Buckley added: “So I think that the fact that the Germans are having this discussion is constructive for them, and it’s a conversation that actually we should be having more of over here”.

Germany has suffered as a consequence of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline having its supply capacity cut by Gazprom, Russia’s state-run supplier. It has lowered the flow to Europe this week to just 20 per cent.

Berlin has already turned out the lights on around 200 of its municipal buildings and historical monuments. In Hanover, hot water has been cut in public buildings, gyms, and swimming pools. The use of fan heaters and mobile air conditioning units has also been banned. Heating will be allowed from October to march but at a maximum of 20°C.

Officials in the city of Augsburg are even said to be contemplating turning the traffic lights off to conserve energy. In Weimar, Mainz, electricity supplies have been halved, as reported by metro.co.uk.

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