Cabinet Office Minister Nadhim Zahawi has today (October 9) said power blackouts this winter are “extremely unlikely”.
The statement comes after Zahawi spoke to Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday presented by Trevor Phillips.
He said: “We’ve got a couple of things that we’ve done that help us deal with winter.
“Of course, war on our continent is the cause of us being very focused on making sure we have the resilience in place over winter.”
Zahawi later added that the UK has the largest liquified natural gas procession infrastructure in Europe and that the Government wanted to “go further”.
It comes just days after the National Grid warned that households across the UK could lose power for up to three hours at a time if the gas supply run extremely low.
The company suggested that it was a very “unlikely” situation however they did add that supply interruptions were still a possibility.
But now Zahawi has spoken out saying: “Now, what the National Grid is saying is the extremely unlikely scenario where there’s issues in Europe with the interconnectors and a cold snap.
“So it is extremely unlikely, but it’s only right that we plan for every scenario. We have a buffer, the same buffer as last year.
“And so I’m confident that come Christmas, come the cold weather, we will continue to be in that resilient place.“
He later added that the National Grid and Ofgem had a communication programme to advise people on energy use.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here