The head of markets at the National Grid Electricity System Operator has told Sky News that its new energy saving scheme “is likely how we’re all going to operate in the future.”
The new Demand Flexibility Service, which allows consumers to volunteer to use less electricity at times of peak demand to help avoid blackouts, has been activated twice this winter.
The Grid’s head of markets, Claire Dykta, described it as an effective “insurance policy” for the coming months, but also a demonstration of how the system could adapt as it is increasingly powered by clean, renewable energy, which is more intermittent than the polluting fossil fuels it is replacing.
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 to how we use it today. Consumers being able to shift their demand is likely how we’re all going to operate in the future.”
Retired bereavement counsellor, Wendy Hall, 65, is from one of the around a million UK households that have signed up to take part in the Demand Flexibility Service.
Image: Wendy Hall is taking part in the scheme to help others
Image: The Demand Flexibility Service gives people the chance to save money off their bills
This time, she was asked by her energy supplier to save at least 20% of her regular usage over one-and-a-half hours.
When we arrived at her small single-story home in Chesterfield all the lights and appliances were off. Wendy was wrapped in her dressing gown for warmth, and was relying on the wood-burning fire in the living room to heat that part of the house.
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She planned to eat and wash her clothes later in the evening, to avoid using large appliances that typically use lots of electricity.
During the energy reduction period, she had her phone and Wi-Fi on, and kept a battery-powered lantern nearby to light her path as she moved around her home in the darkness.
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10:13
National Grid: Cash to reduce energy
Avoiding blackouts for vulnerable who need electricity
So far, the most Wendy has managed to save in one session is £3.66. Although, for her, this isn’t the main motivator.
“Primarily, it’s about avoiding blackouts for people who need the electricity, such as families with young children, elderly or disabled people. If I can just do a little bit and it helps them then that’s everything for me,” Wendy said.
“I’m not worried about the money, it’s not about that. Thinking about the war days, they dug for England, they made do and mended and if just switching the power off for one hour is a help to other people, I’m happy to do it.”
The National Grid emphasised that advances in smart appliances and technologies will ultimately make it much easier for people to consume electricity more flexibly, helping keep bills down at the same time as reducing demand at peak times.
Ms Dykta said: “I think one thing we should be really clear about is that when we talk about this Demand Flexibility Service and what it means, it’s about shifting your energy intensive appliances so your tumble dryer or your washing machine or your electric oven – and using those at different times.
“It’s not about switching everything off and sitting in the dark.
“Great Britain is on a journey to a high renewables green system. We’re further along than a lot of others, so demand flexibility is a step on that journey.”
Image: Ratcliffe on Sour coal fired power station
‘Smart’ consumers playing active part in system
But are the majority of British consumers ready to make this shift in their energy consumption habits?
E.ON chief executive Michael Lewis believes they are.
He told Sky News that “smart” consumers becoming an active part of the energy system is a critical part of its future.
“I think people are ready. They fully understand that we need to get off fossil fuels.
“We need to get to net zero and we need to get ourselves off these volatile international prices. And I think what Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has shown is how reliant we are on unstable political regimes.
“They know we need to take responsibility for our energy system and that means every individual taking responsibility for how we consume energy.”
But he warned that ditching fossil fuels will require a “huge national investment and a huge national effort”.
“Bear in mind we have to massively expand electricity generation, because not only are we replacing old fossil fuel generation, we’re also replacing all of the petroleum that goes into cars with electricity, and all of the gas that goes into heating with electricity.
“So we need much more renewable energy generation upstream and that’s both large scale generation like offshore wind, but also more embedded generation, like solar panels on every roof, and more electric vehicle chargers in homes and businesses.”
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‘We save £10 a day on energy scheme’
As well as increasing efforts to make homes more energy efficient, he said: “We have to look at storage.
“Batteries of course are great for short-term storage and as the electric vehicle fleet increases there’ll be more and more battery capacity embedded in the system, but we also need a long-term solution for seasonal storage.
“And that’s probably going to be hydrogen and we have to ramp up green hydrogen production to create that storage for when the wind isn’t blowing and when the sun isn’t shining.”
As part of its promise to decarbonise power generation in this country by 2035, the government has ambitious plans to ramp up battery storage and green hydrogen production, as well as increase wind power fivefold by the end of the decade.
But some industry experts worry that too much faith is being placed in technologies that, while rapidly advancing, are not yet at the necessary scale and affordability.
Heading for supply crisis in mid 2020s
Energy analyst from the Watt Logic consultancy, Kathryn Porter, says that the system has held up relatively well this winter, in part because warmer weather reduced the demand for gas, which provided just under 40% of our electricity generation last year.
But she is worried about what is to come, particularly about reliance on foreign electricity imports from European partners, especially France.
She said: “We’re running into a supply crisis in the middle of this decade.
“The reality is that this is the second time in five years that the French have taken large parts of their fleet offline for systemic problems, and so thinking that we can rely on old French reactors to get us out of trouble, I think is a little bit optimistic.
“We have legislation in place that requires all the coal power stations to close by October 2024.
“There are also two of our remaining nuclear power stations scheduled for closure in March 2024.
“So we have a situation where the winter after next, all of the spare capacity that we currently have… that will have gone.
“So we need to replace that. And the only realistic way of doing that is to build gas power stations. Now two years isn’t really long enough to do that.”
A government spokesperson told Sky News: “Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has shown it is now more important than ever that we boost the UK’s homegrown energy supply to strengthen domestic resilience and energy security now and into the future.”
They added that the British Energy Security Strategy will “supercharge” renewable energy and nuclear capacity, as well as support North Sea oil and gas.
Billions have also been invested up until 2028 to make buildings more energy efficient, they said.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Image: Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Image: Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Image: Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Image: Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Image: Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
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Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
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Image: Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
Just Stop Oil (JSO) insists it’s been “successful” – as its members ceremoniously hang up their orange high-vis vests during a march in central London.
Since the group formed three years ago, it’s drawn attention and criticism for its colourful, controversial protests, which ranged from disrupting sporting events to throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and climbing on gantries over the M25. It sprayed orange paint over Stonehenge, and cost police forces tens of millions of pounds.
Those days are now behind it; to the relief of many.
As a few hundred activists marched through London on Saturday, blocking roads as they went; taxi drivers blared their horns and football fans shouted abuse from the pavement.
The PA News Agency filmed the moment a white minivan seemed to drive towards a group of protesters blocking the road.
Protesters shouted “I’m being pushed back!” to police, while the driver could be heard shouting “What about my right to get home?” to the officers gathered.
But JSO never set out to be popular. And it believes its tactics – though hated – have been successful; thanks to the new Labour government’s commitment to not issue new oil or gas exploration licences.
That’s why, it says, its ceasing direct action.
Image: JSO hangs up its high-vis jackets in central London on Saturday
Image: A washing line of high-vis jackets signifies JSO’s disbanding
“This moment marks the success of the JSO campaign – our demand was to end new oil and gas licences and that is now government policy.
“As a result of which four billion barrels of oil are being kept under the North Sea. The campaign has reached a natural end.”
Dr Oscar Berglund, senior lecturer in international public and social policy, disagrees that JSO is disappearing because it’s been “successful”.
He told Sky News policing strength and public perception might have more to do with it.
“They have very low levels of popularity. About 17% of the British population are kind of broadly supportive of what Just Stop Oil do. And that’s too low to recruit.
“It’s difficult to recruit members to something that is that unpopular, and then that a lot of people for good reason I think have kind of stopped believing in that kind of disruption as a means to achieve meaningful change.”
Group triggers specific new protest laws
One thing it did change is the law.
Policing commentator Graham Wettone tells us: “Obstruction of the highway, obstruction of rail networks for example, these are specific offences now.
“It’s given the police more tactics, more methods, more offences they can consider, even stopping and searching somebody who may have something to either lock themselves on or glue themselves to something.”
Image: A JSO activist holds a picture of an imprisoned colleague
Emma Smart was held in prison for her activism with both Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
“The high-vis might be going away,” she tells me, “but we aren’t.”
“These people aren’t going anywhere, we are still committed, dedicated, terrified by the failings of this government and governments around the world.”
Image: JSO activists throw orange paint at van Gogh’s sunflowers
Image: Orange smoke set off by JSO protesters at Stonehenge
She hopes for a time of reflection before it returns in a new form but says the need for climate activism is stronger than ever.
She also believes that while most people dislike JSO tactics, it still raises awareness of the cause and might even push people to more moderate campaign groups.
Just Stop Oil came behind other, similarly controversial climate campaign groups like Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion, and as it says goodbye, its disruptive methods have been seized upon by other organisations like the Pro-Palestinian Youth Justice.
The infamous Just Stop Oil orange vests might be going away, but the individual activists, their cause and campaign tactics feel here to stay.