FRENCH HOLD UK TO RANSOME
Because of privatisation plans, French power
workers are threatening to switch off the
cross-Channel electricity supply to Britain,
raising fears of blackouts across the country.
A spokesman for the CGT union said, "We have
only to throw a switch and the lights will go out
over a chunk of England. We will choose a time
when demand is high so consumers suffer most and
we will get more publicity for our cause."
France is a net provider of power to Britain via
the so-called interconnector. Stewart Larque, an
external relations adviser at National Grid
Transco, said, "If the French workers shut
down supplies at a vital moment, it would be
equivalent to the closure of a big nuclear power
station in Britain. Jack Gee |
TWO
HOUR CUT
Almost 5,500 homes in Alvaston,
including Blandford Close, Holbrook Road,
Coronation Avenue and Border Crescent, were
without power for up to 2 hours following a fault
in the underground power supply. |
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POWERCUTS 2
PowerGen says that
£50bn-£70bn will be needed to upgrade the network as
coal-fuelled power stations reach the end of their
working lives and electricity prices may rise by as much
as a fifth to pay for upgrades. The warning came after a
survey found that fear of a blackout was the top concern
of European businesses.
Nine out of 10 companies polled by accountancy firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers said they expected frequent
disruptions to power supplies across Europe. With world
energy demand expected to rise by two-thirds between 2003
and 2030, about £5,600bn of investment is needed in the
energy sector, three times more than in the past 30
years.
PowerGen's chief executive Dr Paul Golby said, "We
will have to get used to paying more for our electricity
in the future."
Anyone who knows about the
state of the world's energy problems will tell you the
lights could soon be going out all over Britain. The
problems stem from the privatisation of the electricity
industry here in 1990. By opening up the industry to
competition you keep prices low which is great for
consumers in the short-term, but we're starting to feel
the long-term side-effects. Electricity-generating
companies are going bankrupt because the wholesale price
of electricity is so low, driven down by Ofgem, the
Government regulator. Because the companies are losing
money, they've mothballed a lot of equipment and now
unexpected surges in demand can't be met.
For example, before privatisation, the Central
Electricity Generating Board always made sure we had a
spare capacity of 28%. This meant that they could cope
with a surge in demand or a power station breakdown.
Today the figure stands at just 8% and because firms have
cut expenditure, there aren't enough engineers to repair
damaged power lines. One company have cut the number of
engineers by 90%! Demand is increasing and the Government
needs to take the problem seriously.
The first thing it should do is encourage the electricity
firms to have a spare capacity with capacity payments. We
also need to look at how our electricity will be
generated in years to come. The Government is keen to run
down nuclear power and opt for gas-fired power stations
and renewable sources like wind but there are problems
with this. Our North Sea gas is running out and by 2010
we will be importing 50%.
By 2020, this will rise to 90%, meaning our gas will be
coming from places like Russia, Nigeria and Tunisia and
we could be subject to massive price rises. The blackouts
we've been seeing across the world in the past 12 months
should act as a wake-up call to Governments around the
world. If we fail to act, our nights will get longer and
darker.
Around 1,500 homes in the
Oakwood and Spondon area were affected by a two hour
powercut, which happened at about 12.50pm. Central
Networks spokesman Jonathan Smith said it was uncertain
exactly what caused the initial cut and a handful of
streets were affected by a later fault which was caused
by a faulty jumper cable. Jumper cables with insulators
are used to prevent overhead power lines from clashing
together in bad weather.
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