An emergency blackout plan could reportedly be activated in the UK as soon as tomorrow.

Brits could be paid to turn off their energy to help the UK’s grid operator avoid a blackout.

The scheme was launched at the start of this month but has only been tested twice – meaning it would be the first time it goes live.

National Grid said a decision will be made whether to notify suppliers and households by around 2.30pm today.

A spokesperson for National Grid ESO said: ‘What has happened is that the ESO has issued an indicative notice on BMRS to alert demand flexibility service providers that we may issue a requirement at 2:30pm for the use of DFS tomorrow night.

‘We’re still assessing what requirement we might need, so it’s still possible that we will issue a requirement for 0MW at 2:30pm that will stand down the use of the DFS tomorrow night.’

The National Grid website says The Demand Flexibility Service (DFS) has been ‘developed to allow the ESO to access additional flexibility when the national demand is at its highest – during peak winter days – which is not currently accessible to the ESO in real time’.

It adds: ‘This new innovative service will allow consumers, as well as some industrial and commercial users (through suppliers/aggregators), to be incentivised for voluntarily flexing the time when they use their electricity.’

This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.

Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected]. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.

Source: Read Full Article