Don’t mention rationing: why energy crisis may need another Truss U-turn
Alarms blare as a huge storm crashes in off the North Sea, taking out the St Fergus gas terminal in Aberdeenshire. A power failure renders the Hatfield Moor gas storage facility in Yorkshire useless. A foreign power attacks subsea power cables from Norway.
Stay calm, it’s only a drill. These are the sorts of eventualities that the energy industry will simulate next week, as a routine annual emergency gas shortage drill takes on national significance. The length of the “Exercise Degree”, which is run by National Grid, has been doubled this year from two days to four days and takes place on 13-14 September and 4-5 October. It could not come at a more relevant time: debate is raging over how probable blackouts are this winter and whether Liz Truss’s energy bills freeze increases that probability because she has not encourage rationing.
In the rest of Europe, officials have already taken action to limit usage in a variety of ways, as Vladimir Putin weaponises gas supply even further. Germany has capped heating of public offices at 19C and switched off lighting of public monuments; in Spain air conditioning in hotels and restaurants can go no lower than 27C; and in France, air conditioned shops that do not keep their doors shut to save energy risk a €750 (£650) fine. In California, consumers have been asked to reduce consumption as a heatwave puts strain on the grid.
So far, Truss has declined to follow suit. While there have been hints about an imminent public information campaign to encourage people to reduce energy use, so far the new prime minister has refused to either introduce mandatory rationing for households and businesses, or urge the public to cut back. The decision is deeply political. While the government has
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