Friday 25 March 2016
Hey, we haven’t eaten our Easter eggs yet so why do we need to think about next winter already?
There has been much speculation on the tightness in UK supply and demand balance on the electricity network next winter, i.e. 2016/17.
From an energy efficiency perspective, is it actually a desirable thing that there is a growing potential for serious blackouts?
Let’s look at this a little further
Before you say it, my apologies for bringing ESOS into this but if there were supply interruptions on a largely unplanned basis, there are a number of responsibilities reflected back on electricity consumers:
Let’s face it:
I've been raising issues around the lack of adequate planning within organisations for some years now. The more enlightened have been on the case for some time but even they need to look to refine their knowledge and contingency planning further.
These considerations include:
The ESOS link is really most about the understanding of where electricity is consumed and how important it is to your business. It unfortunately doesn't prompt you to ask vital questions like “What would you do without it?”
In simple terms, do you want to leave your company exposed to energy supply/security risk next winter?
If yes, I’ll leave you to explain to your employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders why you failed to manage the possibility of supply failure.
If no, you need to either start doing something about it – like improve your understanding, efficiency and contingencies around electricity consumption. If you don’t have the skills within your organisation to do this you’ll need to talk to specialists who can help.
It may seem glib to already be talking about next winter when we’re not totally through with this one but planning and risk management take time to consider and put plans in place to take out the worst impacts.
If you do nothing else, at least think what the worst case might look like – and be worried!
It could be far worse than egg-spected!
Mervyn Bowden is the MD of Intuitive Energy Solutions.