Power failure

The consequences of the power failure on 9 August have been extensively reviewed and, quite rightly, more detailed examination will follow.

For more than a century Prospect, and its predecessor unions, has represented managers and engineers in the electricity supply industry, giving us a unique insight into the challenges and opportunities it faces. Our members are at the frontline of achieving a just transition to net zero emissions.

There are important lessons from the events of 9 August for delivering this mission.

Firstly, we need a more transparent and broader framework for investment and regulation. Government ministers have fallen into a habit of quoting selectively from reports that reinforce their own preferences. Via OFGEM they play to the gallery of cost cutting in the interests of consumers, yet decline to debate the most economically effective and socially just ways to pay for necessary investment.

Such short-term market-driven approaches are clearly falling short. With the continuing absence of an energy white paper there is no joined up vision and no pathway to net zero. At the very least the lower levels of inertia on the system due to the change in energy mix pose a prima facie case for reviewing the capacity margins available to ensure security of supply.

Secondly, we contend that OFGEM’s current remit is increasingly a barrier to resilience and that the incentives regime should be reprioritised. We know that engineers are being driven to work to the limits of their endurance in order to reduce penalties arising from customer minutes lost. One third told us that they feel overwhelmed at work either every day or most of the time and 31% have experienced being too tired to work safely.

At the same time 9 August inevitably raises questions about whether the incentives to design and operate arrangements in cases of high impact emergencies are sufficiently robust. Reviewing the financial incentives for reactive power and blackstart resources would help as would increasing the resilience of connections for large consumers with public duties. We need to know who in our market based approach will pay for enhancements to the Grid Code.

Thirdly, when any report is finalised that there must be due attention paid in it to the engineering skills and experience that will be needed across the industry. This is not simply a matter of replacing capacity lost through turnover, though with 221,000 vacancies to be filled over the next decade this is challenging in itself. Increasingly sophisticated systems and the impact of future technologies require additional skills not only to maintain networks and ensure that these are protected, but to ensure that future energy scenarios and the drive to net zero. This is important but often under-appreciated work.

Above all, it is essential that the lessons learned are communicated and understood beyond a purely technical audience and that they are not considered in isolation from the broader policy requirement to decarbonise. We simply cannot address the climate emergency solely through activism. Energy security, transparency and fair sharing of costs are also prerequisites for change.

Sue Ferns is the deputy general secretary of Prospect Union.