National Grid Is Experimenting With Reducing Demand

Energy crisis arising from Russia's invasion of Ukraine decommissioning fossil fuel-powered fleet of power stations. Some very cold snaps recently with very little wind this winter has seen the ability of our national grid to maintain electricity supplies reaching near breaking point at times. This has prompted blackout warnings and inquiries for battery backup installations. Now initiatives are afoot to pay a million UK customers to turn off their washing machines and other luxury appliances at peak times to unload our supplies. So how does this work and is it the first step towards centralised digital control of our energy consumption which, after dropping for years as technology improved efficiency, now looks set to climb again? I put these questions to Simon Harrison,