Lords Committee investigates impact of electricity blackouts
16 December 2014
As thousands of homes in the UK were left without power this week following the fallout from the ‘weather bomb’, the Lords Science and Technology Committee will, on Tuesday 16 December, ask what it means for the country to suffer severe electricity blackouts.
- Parliament TV: The resilience of electricity infrastructure
- Inquiry: The resilience of electricity infrastructure
- Science and Technology Committee (Lords)
Background
The Committee’s evidence session will hear from Dr John Roberts, one of the authors of the recent Royal Academy of Engineering report, Counting the cost: the economic and social costs of electricity shortfalls in the UK, as part of its inquiry into electricity resilience.
The Committee will delve deeper into the range of effects of electricity outages, covering areas such as the economic impacts, the social impacts, and how well effects are measured.
Witness
Tuesday 16 December, Committee Room 4A, Palace of Westminster
At 10.40am:
- Dr John Roberts, CBE, FREng, representing the Royal Academy of Engineering
Questions
Questions that the Committee will put to the witness include:
- What are the economic consequences of interruptions to electricity supply?
- How do the effects vary, depending on time, duration and frequency of outage?
- How could future investment into the UK be affected by serious outages?
- How do we measure the cost of outages?
- Is this method reliable?
- What are the social implications of blackouts?
- Can we learn from other sectors or other countries?
- Have electricity distribution companies learned key lessons from storms and flooding events?