These energy savings schemes can backfire on you. We had one in the 1980s when it looked like there was going to be a power shortage. It was very successful and people really cut back on power (eg I got rid of my beer fridge, took shorter showers, converted to off peak).
In the end the shortage never happened for a number of reasons but the reduction in load persisted for many, many years afterwards and revenue with it.
I was wondering though…with the high standing charges that everyone is paying now, if there were blackouts, would companies refund customers the difference? 
You mean like a COVID pandemic, or a European war, or a worldwide energy crisis … 
Well, they weren’t supposed to happen … and the UK was slow to react … 
Of course they will (in your dreams) … 
They do here, the standing charges are a daily charge so if they fail to supply power for the day the charge cannot be applied. Obviously a outage of less than a day doesn’t count but during the bush fires when power was not restored for many days the standing charge was not applied.
I suppose it depends on how the charge is applied
Hi
The Government spent vastly more than that on protecting the private persons from collapse after the Mini budget
Oh for gawd sake how on earth can you compare this with anything like that. The national grid have worked out things that they could do in a worst case scenario, I heard some professor yesterday saying there was a 1% chance of it happening. If it happens then I’m sure people will know what to do without having to spend £15 million on something that in all likelihood won’t happen.
And you’d be the first to start a thread, ‘Government wasted £15 million pounds on Government campaign on something they were assured wouldn’t happen’.
Oh for gawd sake, I can … because it was a Tory Government that ignored the warning signs in each case.
And a warning to peeps especially those who have smart meters, energy companies are encouraging people to do their washing, etc. over night and even giving cash incentives to do so, but the fire service have always advised against this, this is the London fire service, but if you look on your own fire service website they more than likely will be saying the same thing:
Bedtime checks - Fire safety at home | London Fire Brigade.
I’m in two minds about this.
If an energy-saving campaign would help to reduce energy consumption, then surely it will be a good thing - no matter what happens about blackouts this Winter, helping everyone to reduce unnecessary energy consumption is a good thing for the future.
I find the Truss “ideology” of reducing state intervention to the levels she talks about worrying - what’s the point of having a central government if its not going to make sure that the basic needs of everyone is met.
The way Truss talks about removing “red tape” and “relaxing laws” in areas where government intervention has been put in place to protect everyone makes me nervous. Leaving too much to “market forces”, as she seems to favour, often means the financially strong call all the shots and the weak and vulnerable get left behind.
However, on the other side of the coin, if a government campaign was just going to reiterate the usual standard energy-saving measures, like adjusting heating controls etc, isn’t there enough energy-saving information and tips readily available in the public domain already?
Can there be a person in the country who hasn’t already seen / heard a newspaper / magazine article or slot in a TV or radio programme about how to save energy. Charities linked to helping the vulnerable, such as Age Concern, are publishing information too. Even energy companies themselves are publishing energy-saving information.
We have heard about very little else on the run-up to the latest energy price increases.
And the current high prices of energy is the biggest incentive for folk to look for these energy-saving tips for themselves.
Maybe a government energy-saving campaign is unnecessary and the money could be better spent on other things.
“Non-interventionist” for BJ meant “let the bodies pile high” … 
I wonder if she would be against intervening if she saw someone desperate, thinking of jumping off a bridge?
More should have intervened enough to stop the heartless woman
getting that job.
My washing machine always goes on around 9am and I’m not changing that. 
Hi
Scotland produces more electric than it uses and exports the surplus to the UK.
You can always turn off the yspd and keep it all for itself.
I often put my washing machine on a timer so that the clothes have finished when I get up at 7.10am.
The phone is charged overnight and I don’t unplug anything
BUT I change the batteries in my smoke detectors at least once every 18 months, and replace the devices every 10 years.
I have house and contents insurance
I used to charge my phone and Kindle overnight but decided it’s not
worth the risk. I have a smoke alarm for the deaf but I just can’t
move as fast as I used to.
Hi
Liz Truss is not a National Treasure, neither is a National Choice.
She is simply the face of the most radical of right wing, paying, Tory Party memebrs.
She was not even the one most voted for initially by the Tory MPs.
She is the result of a bizarre voting structure which means she was given the job of Prime Minister by a small fraction of 1% of the voting population.
Even they are somewhat astounded by how stupid she has shown herself to be as Prime Minister.
Spot on Swimfeeders, the woman hasn’t a clue. She will bring
the UK to its knees pursuing her rightwing ideology. She should
really be in Nigel Farage’s party, that’s where she really belongs.
Ofgem boss Jonathan Brearley is expected to say that a supply emergency is unlikely.
But he will also warn the coming months could be “difficult” and “we cannot at any time, particularly this winter, eliminate all risk”.
The initiative, set to be launched in a speech later on Thursday, comes as the government appeared to change direction on its own public information campaign to cut energy bills.
Last week, cabinet minister Nadhim Zahawi said a planned £15m government drive to encourage household energy-saving had been dropped because the National Grid and Ofgem were running similar campaigns. But the BBC also reported that the campaign had been shelved after opposition by Prime Minister Liz Truss.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, however, Pensions Minister Guy Opperman asked Ms Truss about having a nationwide mailout campaign on cutting energy usage.
She said that the Business and Energy Secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, “is working on a plan to help companies and individuals use energy more efficiently”, adding: “I hope we’ll be able to start this going in Number 10 straight away.”
Hope or expectation … 
Count it as good as, er, shelved/forgotten.
