Winter blackouts are ‘extremely unlikely’, says Zahawi

Power blackouts are “extremely unlikely” this winter, Cabinet Office Minister Nadhim Zahawi has said.

The Tory frontbencher also insisted there was no need for the government to spend £14 million on an energy-saving public information campaign, given the advice already available. 

Speaking during wide-ranging interview, Zahawi downplayed the possibility of winter blackouts. 

“It’s extremely unlikely,” he said on being pressed to comment on the issue.  

“But it’s only right that we plan for every scenario,” he added, while stressing the UK’s energy resilience. 

“We’ve got interconnectors with our neighbours. Now, what the National Grid is saying is the extremely unlikely scenario where there are issues in Europe with the interconnectors and a very cold snap, so it’s extremely unlikely. But it’s only right that we plan for every scenario. 

“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.” 

“I am confident the [energy] resilience is there, that people can enjoy their Christmas,” he said. 

Prime Minister Liz Truss has vetoed a plan by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) to roll out a £15 million 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. 

Zahawi’s comments came a few days after worst-case scenario for winter was laid out earlier this week by the National Grid electricity system operator when it said households and businesses might face planned three-hour outages to ensure that the grid did not collapse. 

Planned blackouts last hit the UK during the 1970s in response to the miners strikes and the oil crisis, and there were also unplanned outages during storms in 1987 when over 1.5 million households were left in darkness.