Britain’s electricity grid is apparently now so fragile control room staff at the grid operator Neso – the people responsible for keeping the lights on – have felt obliged to sound the alarm.
A shadow energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, revealed in Parliament on Wednesday, Neso whistleblowers have suggested to her things have become so bad the grid is now starting to breach the so-called “Security and Quality of Supply Standard”.
This is designed to ensure that the grid always has something in reserve so if something bad happens – a major power station tripping off the grid, for instance – the lights stay on.
Last month, it appears we had a very near miss.
So little generation capacity was available the control room was struggling to meet demand, let alone having anything in reserve.
This is very worrying – it is one thing for margins to be tight in winter and quite another to see supply shortfalls in the middle of summer when demand is low.
Alarmingly, Ms Coutinho outlined claims Neso managers are making things worse by interfering in control room decisions.
The supply shortfall was resolved by cutting off export customers, rather than anything that might have affected British consumers.
When the Tories first raised the question of grid security back in May, Ed Miliband accused the party of scaremongering
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PAThat decision will have meant fewer political problems for Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, but it is likely to come back to bite us over the winter.
If we can cut off supply to the European Union when times are tough, they will surely feel no qualms about returning the favour in winter, when we need French nuclear power to keep the lights on.
The reaction of ministers to Ms Coutinho’s questions has been shameful.
When she first raised the question of grid security back in May, both Mr Miliband and his sidekick Michael Shanks accused her of scaremongering.
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The GB electricity grid is so fragile control room staff at the grid operator Neso have felt obliged to sound the alarm
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Only now the whistleblowers have confirmed her concerns are they claiming that they take the subject “very seriously”.
Unfortunately, the evidence suggests otherwise.
At the start of the year, proposals to reform prices on the capacity market that could have brought new, reliable gas-fired capacity online were shelved.
Emergency measures are required if we are to stave off rolling power cuts.
Unfortunately, decisions are being made by a team of Net Zero zealots.
The outlook is therefore very bleak.