Tory warns of power cuts

HOMES and businesses in Warrington could be facing power cuts within years, a Conservative election hopeful has warned.
David Mowat, Prospective Parliamentary candidate for Warrington South said consumers would be told to prepare for blackouts because power supplies would fail to meet demand at peak times.
Over the next few years many power stations would reach the end of their lives, or have to shut because of EU law. But the Government had failed to ensure that replacements would be available in time.
The small print of Whitehall documents reveal that Ministers have pencilled in power cuts of 3,000 megawatt hours per year by 2017. This was the equivalent of 670,000 people being without electricity for a day – an area three times the size of Warrington.
In practice the blackouts are most likely to strike at peak times – in the early evening during the winter months – hitting many more people for shorter periods when the need for electricity is greatest.
Mr Mowat (pictured) said: “I am extremely concerned that homes and businesses in Warrington will face blackouts because the Labour Government put its head in the sand about energy policy for a decade. Ministers have been forced to admit they expect the lights to go out for the first time since the three-day week of the 1970s.
“Conservatives will act quickly to tackle Labour’s energy crisis. We will increase generating capacity, improve energy efficiency by insulating people’s homes, adopt the latest green technology and make Britain’s energy policy a matter of national security.”