Don't pop the kettle on: National Grid will pay households to use less electricity tonight in bid to avert blackouts
22 January 2023, 23:13 | Updated: 23 January 2023, 06:12
Homeowners will be paid for not using electricity tonight as the National Grid aims to avoid blackouts during frosty weather.
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The Grid's plan for emergency supply shortages has been triggered by yet another evening of cold weather.
It has put £1 million aside to pay households with smart meters for reducing their usage between 5pm and 6pm this evening.
A spokesperson for the nation's energy operator said: “Our forecasts show electricity supply margins are expected to be tighter than normal on Monday evening.
"This does not mean electricity supplies are at risk and people should not be worried.
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"These are precautionary measures to maintain the buffer of spare capacity we need.”
The National Grid has also instructed two coal-fired power stations to prepare to generate emergency power.
In a series of tests to prepare for Monday night, the National Grid has paid out more than £3 million to homes that conserve electricity during busy hours.
Energy consultancy EnAppSys told The Times: “While it looks tight, it’s not as bad as previous days this winter when [National Grid] electricity services operators chose not to dispatch contingency coal plants.”
It comes as temperatures are set to plummet even further next month during a blast of Arctic air heading southward in the coming weeks.
The country could see temperatures lower even than the -10C recorded in Scotland last week, with more snow also a possibility.
Meteorologists predicted a one-in-four % chance of an even rarer event taking place: a sudden stratospheric warning (SSW).
That is when the polar vortex winds weaken to such an extent that the air temperature in the Arctic suddenly heats up, sending the freezing air south in even greater mass.
The current spell of cold, sunny weather is set to last until Tuesday.
Southern England faces average temperatures of 3C across the next few days, while the north will be more drizzly but slightly warmer at about 7C.
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