Electricity demand plummets in face of recession
New figures from the National Grid have dispelled RSA’s threat of power cuts as scaremongering.
Industrial output has been cut back so dramatically, the electricity handler confirms, that electricity generation will cope with the reduced demand.
The new suggest normal peak demand for electricity would be about 500 megawatts lower than previously forecast this winter, at 58.4GW instead of 58.9GW. In some weeks, peak demand could be up to 1,000MW lower than had been expected, National Grid said.
Chris Train, the group's network operations director, said that the decision to lower its demand forecasts had been taken because of the economic slowdown.
“Over recent years our forecasts have predicted a downward trend in electricity demand because of increased energy efficiency, response to higher fuel prices and increases in local electricity generation. However the actual demand figures are still lower than expected because of the current economic slow-down; in particular we are seeing some larger electricity consumers reducing their production and therefore their electricity use. We’re now at a point where we need to reflect this in our published peak demand forecasts,” he said
Concerns had been raised that with decommissioning of nuclear power stations the UK may not have enough power generation to keep the lights on during the winter.
Yesterday RSA warned retailers they could face the lights going out this winter. But the warning was based on previous predictions that demand for electricity would rise by 2%.
