Let's close down seven power stations...

How we can close seven expensive power stations and you can save yourself some money

Every weekday from November to the end of February, starting at around 3:30pm, electricity demand in the UK rises, and by about 5:30pm it is 7GW (seven million kilowatts) higher. 

That’s about 300 watts per household on average. By 8pm, demand has usually fallen back to its pre-peak level. It takes seven large power stations to supply this peak, over and above those required during the daytime plateau.The reason for the peak is simple. At this time, offices shops, factories are still working, and people are starting to come home from school and work. So workplaces and homes are using electricity at the same time.Some large businesses and factories are paid to reduce their electricity demand during these periods. But not enough to prevent the peak and the seven power stations’ worth of electricity it requires.

We could close these power stations and associated transmission lines without replacing them, at a saving of between 7 and 10 billion pounds

What can we do about it?

Surprisingly, perhaps, the answer is simple, cheap, and will save you money with little or no loss of convenience.

It’s simply this-

·   Switch off your immersion heater for a few hours if you have one. If possible, from 3:30pm to 8pm but     particularly around 5:30pm for as long as you can without inconvenience.

·   Don’t switch on your washing machine, your dishwasher or tumble drier
    during these hours.

·   Set your freezer and fridge to go off for some or all of these hours.
 If 3million of us did it, we could close down one power station.If all 23 million households in the country did this, we could close down seven power stations.

What will it cost me?

If you do it manually, nothing. But to make your life really easy, you could fit a £20 timer to your immersion heater. A side effect will be that you will use less electricity.  I calculate that I have saved about £50 over a year as a result of fitting one. So the timer could pay for itself in less than six months.To learn more about the way in which we use and generate electricity, and for many other ways to save money, visit

theintelligentplug.com