We can phase out gas - and no blackouts

THE recent national power outages in Spain and Portugal have attracted a lot of attention and raised understandable concerns about the ability of the UK to safely increase the proportion of renewables and reduce or even eliminate gas from the grid.

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At the same time, the fact that prices in the gas market drive our domestic energy bills 98% of the time in the UK has the greatest influence on the price we pay for electricity, and keeps our bills much higher than our European neighbours. What can be done?

Making our electricity system fit for the future is a huge change. But we are good at these changes in the UK.

Historically the electricity and lighting companies were all separate concerns, and many people were still on gas lighting or even candlelight for decades after houses like Cragside in Northumbria were brilliantly lit.

Over time, by building the National Grid, we made electricity available to all. It’s a complex system run by a team of skilled staff at the National Balancing service who direct generators to start and stop power stations to meet demand.

It’s also their job to maintain a steady voltage and frequency across the system, so we can all be sure we are supplied at 240V and 50Hz and all our bits and pieces of electrical kit can run properly.