[mumofstig]

The stand-by battery on my house phone lasts about an hour, after that - tough luck!!

[Subversive_plot]

Is this all related to natural gas shortages over there? 

I'm imagining that is the root cause, I'm curious if there is another cause or two involved.

[snowdrops]

Never mind the gas boiler Lardman without electricity I can’t use my house phone thanks to BT?? More than that an extended power cut would stop me charging my mobile etc. Where we are we have had power cuts longer than 3 hours when the wind blows and knocks out overhead cables. Also we sometimes get cuts for a few seconds that knock out everything with a clock the whole house starts flashing!!
I realise the food in the freezer is probably ok but my worry is that I don’t trust reassurance from power companies. A couple of days off power and we’re in trouble.
I have a “smart meter” that doesn’t work properly after being installed 3 years ago.

You can get power banks to run your mobile, need to be charged up prior to an outage though. I use one at the allotment to run my phone from if needed

[mumofstig]

Is this all related to natural gas shortages over there? 

I'm imagining that is the root cause, I'm curious if there is another cause or two involved.

Yes, gas, or lack of it, is the problem. For years there was complacency about the supply to us of gas from overseas, and the company with the largest store, closed it rather than repair it at it's own cost, when Government didn't think it was its responsibility to pay, either.
Obviously supply is now tight and other countries may not be able to supply any/as much. Industries will be closed, maybe a 3 day week, before homes though.

[Goosegirl]

The stand-by battery on my house phone lasts about an hour, after that - tough luck!!

Ours started to do that then I realised it needed new batteries. Got them changed and all is well now.

[JayG]

My cordless landline phones don't work at all during a power cut because they depend on the base station for their signal. The base station is mains powered and has no standby battery. 

I do have a corded phone though, which should work in a power cut as long as the exchange and BT network is still powered up. Internet should still be available via mobile data, although I imagine I'd be more engaged with trying to remember where I put the candles than surfing the internet! 

[Goosegirl]

The stand-by battery on my house phone lasts about an hour, after that - tough luck!!

We found the same thing, then I looked at the instruction leaflet which said the hand-held phone needed its batteries changing, so I did that last week and have had no problems since.

[mrs bouquet]

Power outages are as likely as the £10 per day rebate for limiting use between 4-7pm  

Modern freezers left closed are fine without power for at least 24 hours, a fridge is much less.  It's just more carrot and stick to encourage "smart" monitoring of your use and supply.

I don't have a smart meter, so it seems I will not get £10 for limited use.  But I do use night-time power as it is cheaper.      Mrs B

[jezza]

Hello I know a lad with a Burrell showman traction engine,power cut in our area last couple of weeks so he connected the generator to the mains ,got into bother ad he wssnt powering the  national grid ,he said he had paid for the coal why did he need to put in to the national grid ,power grid couldnt answer but still threatened him with a fine    jezza