Power Shortage

It has been known for a good few years, even whilst Labour was still in power, that our electricity generating capacity was on a knife's edge in cold weather. I think it was about three years ago when I was told by a colleague who worked in the industry that there was almost a total blackout over parts of the country when some major generating plant failed; fortunately, some plant elsewhere became available ahead of schedule following repair and disaster was narrowly avoided. Since then, in spite of all the trivial measures put in place such as forcing us to have "energy-saving" lamps, demand has continued to rise both due to the increasing population and the extra electrical devices in our homes. Meanwhile, in order to conform to EU diktats and the fantasies of the "Greens", Didcot power station is being closed down, although it is still capable of service for many more years, because it doesn't meet emission requirements.
Such new power stations as we have, or could be built in a hurry, are gas fired, although these too are under attack from the zealots. But there is a major snag here, gas supplies are running out. We were told yesterday that there was a mere 35 hours of gas supplies left in storage in this country.

It is clear from this that this government is failing in one of its primary duties to the people of this country, that is to ensure that the country has adequate energy supplies. They have ploughed millions of our money into windmills, yet the whole lot combined, if they are all working, still don't provide enough electricity to replace that lost by the closure of Didcot. The gas supply situation is similar.  The "Greens" have opposed any new major storage units and are vehemently opposed to fracking which could be our salvation. And as for nuclear, in spite of it being one of the greenest methods of generation, well forget it!

Meanwhile, figures indicate that there have been an estimated 4,000 extra deaths in just five weeks as compared with the same period over the past five years, largely due the wintry conditions. If we have any major power cuts, this figure could rise dramatically.

I believe that if we have any significant outages of electricity or gas, it will be the end of the Tory party for many years. People are prepared to tolerate cuts when they are due to industrial action, as has happened in the past, or unforeseen natural causes, but, whilst a cold March might be unusual, it is not an unforeseen possibility. What people are not prepared to tolerate is incompetence, and any major power cuts in peacetime can generally be regarded as incompetence. It is the Tories who will get the blame, not the Greens, and it is the Tories who will suffer as they will have failed in one of their basic duties as a government.