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.
The threat of physical attacks by Iran on people living in the UK has increased “significantly” since 2022, according to a new report by parliament’s intelligence watchdog.
Iran poses a “wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat” to the UK, according to the Intelligence and Security Committee.
It also said Iran’s intelligence services were “willing and able – often through third party agents – to attempt assassination within the UK, and kidnap from the UK”.
Image: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Pic: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency/Reuters
The report said there have been 15 murder or kidnap attempts against British citizens or UK-based individuals since the beginning of 2022 and August 2023.
Sky News has approached the Iranian embassy for a comment.
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Millions of Iranians unite in mourning
The report authors add: “Whilst Iran’s activity appears to be less strategic and on a smaller scale than Russia and China, Iran poses a wide-ranging threat to UK national security, which should not be underestimated: it is persistent and crucially – unpredictable.”
The committee also says that while the threat is often focused on dissidents and other opponents to the regime, there is also an increased threat to Jewish and Israeli interests in the UK.
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The report warns that while Iran has not developed a nuclear weapon, it has taken steps towards that goal.
It found that Iran had been “broadly compliant” with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aimed at limiting its nuclear ambitions.
But since Donald Trump withdrew from that deal in 2018, the report said the nuclear threat had increased and Tehran “had the capability to arm in a relatively short period”.
The UK government is also accused of “fire-fighting” rather than developing a real understanding of Iran.
Image: Iran’s president oversees a parade in Tehran in April showing off the country’s military hardware. Pic: West Asia News Agency/Reuters
Image: Missiles are paraded through the capital during the recent National Army Day ceremony. Pic: West Asia News Agency/Reuters
The report says: “The government’s policy on Iran has suffered from a focus on crisis management, driven by concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme, to the exclusion of other issues.
“As one of our expert witnesses told the committee: ‘Strategy is not a word that I think has crossed the lips of policy makers for a while, certainly not in relation to Iran’.”
The committee concluded its evidence-taking in August 2023, the result of two years of work, but the report authors say their conclusions “remain relevant”.
But the report authors questioned whether UK sanctions against individuals would “in practice deliver behavioural change. Or in fact unhelpfully push Iran towards China”.
The committee also said the British government should consider proscribing the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), although some argue it would limit the UK’s ability to talk to and influence Iran.
Responding to the report, a UK government spokesperson said: “The government will take action wherever necessary to protect national security, which is a foundation of our plan for change.
“We have already placed Iran on the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme and introduced further sanctions against individuals and entities linked to Iran, bringing the total number of sanctions to 450.”
British security services say Tehran uses criminal proxies to carry out its work in Britain.
In December, two Romanians were charged after a journalist working for a Persian language media organisation in London was stabbed in the leg. In May, three Iranian men appeared in court charged with assisting Iran’s foreign intelligence service and plotting violence against journalists.
Earlier this year, the UK government said it would require the Iranian state to register everything it does to exert political influence in the UK, because of what it called increasingly aggressive activity.
The first thing you notice when immigration officers stop a possible illegal moped delivery driver is the speed in which the suspect quickly taps on their mobile.
“We’re in their WhatsApp groups – they’ll be telling thousands now that we’re here… so our cover is blown,” the lead immigration officer tells me.
“It’s like a constant game of cat and mouse.”
Twelve Immigration Enforcement officers, part of the Home Office, are joining colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police in a crackdown on road offences and migrants working illegally.
The West of England and Wales has seen the highest number of arrests over the last year for illegal workers outside of London.
“It is a problem… we’re tackling it,” Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says. He covers all the devolved nations.
“This is just one of the operations going on around the country, every day of the week, every month of the year.”
Image: Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says his team are attempting to tackle the issue
Just outside the Cabot Circus shopping complex, we stop a young Albanian man who arrived in the UK on the back of a truck.
He’s on an expensive and fast-looking e-bike, with a new-looking Just Eat delivery bag.
He says he just uses it for “groceries” – but the officer isn’t buying it. He’s arrested, but then bailed instantly.
We don’t know the specifics of his case, but one officer tells me this suspected offence won’t count against his asylum claim.
Such is the scale of the problem – the backlog, loopholes and the complexity of cases – that trying to keep on top of it feels impossible.
This is one of many raids happening across the UK as part of what the government says is a “blitz” targeting illegal working hotspots.
Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, joins the team for an hour at one of Bristol’sretail parks, scattered with fast food chains and, therefore, delivery bikes.
Image: Border security and asylum minister, Angela Eagle, speaks to Sky News
She says arrests for illegal working are up over the last year by 51% from the year before, to more than 7,000.
“If we find you working, you can lose access to the hotel or the support you have [been] given under false pretences,” she said.
“We are cracking down on that abuse, and we intend to keep doing so.”
There are reports that asylum seekers can rent legitimate delivery-driver accounts within hours of arriving in the country – skipping employment legality checks.
Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat all told Sky News they’re continuing to strengthen the technology they use to remove anyone working illegally.
But a new Border Security Bill, working its way through Parliament, could see companies fined £60,000 for each illegal worker discovered, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.
“I had them all in to see me last week and I told them in no uncertain terms that we take a very tough line on this kind of abuse and they’ve got to change their systems so they can drive it out and off their platforms,” the minister tells me.
For some of those who arrive, a bike and a phone provide a way to repay debts to gang masters.
There were eight arrests today in Bristol, one or two taken into custody, but it was 12 hours of hard work by a dozen immigration officers and the support of the police.
As two mopeds are pushed onto a low-loader, you can’t help but feel, despite the best intentions, that at the moment, this is a losing battle.
We see the boat from a distance – the orange of the life jackets reflected in the rising sun.
And as we draw closer, we can make out dozens of people crowded on board as it sets off from the shore, from a beach near Dunkirk.
There is no sign of any police activity on the shore, and there are no police vessels in the water.
Instead, the migrants crammed into an inflatable dinghy are being watched by us, on board a private boat, and the looming figure of the Minck, a French search and rescue ship that soon arrives.
Image: Minck, a French search and rescue ship, shadows the boat
The dinghy meanders. It’s not heading towards Britain but rather hugging the coast.
A few of the passengers wave at us cheerfully, but then the boat starts to head back towards the shore.
Image: Sky’s Adam Parsons at the scene
As it nears a different beach, we see a police vehicle – a dune buggy – heading down to meet it.
Normal practice is for French police officers to slice through the material of any of these small boats that end up back on shore.
Two police officers get out of the buggy and wait. A police helicopter arrives and circles above, performing a tight circle over the heads of the migrants.
The police think they might be about to go back on to the beach; in fact, these passengers know that most of them are staying put.
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The boat stops a short distance from the shore and four people jump out. As they wade towards the beach, the boat turns and starts to head back out to sea.
We see the two police officers approach these four men and have a brief conversation.
They don’t appear to check the bags they are carrying and, if they do question them about why they left the boat, it is the most cursory of conversations.
In reality, these people probably don’t speak French but they were almost certainly involved in arranging this crossing, which is against the law. But all four walk away, disappearing into the dunes at the back of the beach.