Blackouts normal

By Peter McLaren­Kennedy AVOIDING

blackouts by cutting energy use “is likely how we’re all going to operate in the future” according to the head of markets for the UK´s National Grid.

A news report on Friday, February 3 said that the scheme whereby customers volunteer to use less electricity had proven effective and had already been used twice this winter.

The National Grid’s Claire Dykta said that the scheme was an effective “insurance policy” and one that would be important as the country moves to clean renewable energy.

She said: “Demand flexibility is going to be a really important component of our energy supply mix going forward and it will grow and grow as something that we all get used to.

“Once we’ve got electric cars and we don’t have gas boilers anymore, we’re going to be using energy very differently from how we use it today. Consumers be­