Broadband ISPs and Ofcom UK Respond to Winter Blackout Fears

The news media has recently been full of scare stories that warn of electricity “blackouts” and “energy rationing“, which they claim could potentially last for several days during the depths of winter. But if the worst were to occur, then how would broadband ISPs and mobile operators’ cope. We investigate.

According to various reports (e.g. Bloomberg, The Independent), the Government’s “reasonable worst-case scenario” under their Emergency Energy Plans could occur if there’s an electricity capacity shortfall, such as one totalling about a sixth of peak demand (even after emergency coal plants have been activated). In theory, this might result in power outages that last several days, possibly during January 2023.

Such an event, reports suggest, might occur if current challenges (e.g. constraints on the supply of gas and storage) were to combine with other problems, such as the risk of reduced electricity imports from Europe (e.g. France and Norway) and below-average temperatures. Some of France’s nuclear power plants are already out of action for various reasons, and the issues around gas supplies should, by now, need no further explanation (gas is also used to create a chunk of our electricity).

At present, there’s a big question mark over whether the recent reports should be viewed as scaremongering, despite admittedly being based on some very real challenges and problems within the UK and European energy markets. However, the Government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), has been clear that such reports are “wilfully misleading” and “not something we expect to happen.”

A BEIS Spokesperson said:

“We are not dependent on Russian energy imports, unlike Europe, with access to our own North Sea gas reserves, steady imports from reliable partners, the second-largest LNG port infrastructure in Europe and a gas supply underpinned by robust legal contracts, meaning households, businesses and industry can be confident they will get the electricity and gas they need.”

Equally, energy rationing – if it did occur – is more likely to hit non-essential services first, such as libraries, railway stations and other public buildings (you can of course argue about what is and is not “essential“). Nevertheless, few people trust what the government says these days or their often optimistic predictions, and it is thus not unreasonable to explore the question of how the telecoms industry would respond to a major disruption in energy supplies.

The current situation

Many of those reading this article today will have only ever experience fairly brief, and often more localised, periods of disruption to their gas or electricity supplies (the gas network is normally fairly dependable) – excluding any problems created within the home (tripped fuses etc.). Such outages tend to last for between a few minutes and a few hours, although serious infrastructure damage may last for days or even longer.

Experiences can also vary, depending upon where you live. For example, the rural home where yours truly used to live typically experienced around 5-6 power outages a year (i.e. those we actually noticed) and they often took longer to resolve (lasting at most for several hours or sometimes 1 day+). By comparison, our current home is in a suburban area, where outages occur maybe once or twice a year and are usually only very brief.

Short power outages, as well as those that are more localised, are generally a manageable annoyance – we expect them to happen. Most network operators will also have backup generators for their key data and exchange sites. Similarly, you can often find battery or UPS backup systems inside related street cabinets or mast sites for local access connectivity, which will typically last for several hours.

However, experiences do vary, and we don’t yet have much information on how every single operator is positioned to respond. But, without naming anybody, some networks may not have invested as much time and effort as others into securing resilience within their power supply, which might show up if there were to be a more serious wide-scale disruption to the supply.

The impact of a major outage

Any major and protracted national or regional disruption to the mains supply would be an altogether different challenge from what the country is familiar with, which is something the United Kingdom hasn’t really experienced since the 1970s. The last time such things occurred also came before the advent of modern broadband internet and mobile services – something we’re now all very dependent upon.

History shows that countries tend not to be very good at adapting to major risks, until one punches them squarely in the face, which was well illustrated by the prior financial crisis and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The risk is thus that telecoms operators, which have become comfortable with the dependability of key energy supplies, might struggle to respond (i.e. not enough resources to keep everything powered, such as due to a lack of batteries, limited fuel stocks or poorly maintained generators).

Not to mention that many homeowners may not have analogue phone handsets as a backup or could be using modern full fibre or all-IP based broadband connectivity without a battery backup, which would leave them exposed regardless of whether their network provider is able to stay online. This could create a dangerous situation in some areas (e.g. mobile notspots), due to the loss of access to emergency services (999).

Ofcom is at least being mindful of this risk (here), even if they don’t seem to be terribly pro-active in tackling it (more on that later). All of this is before we even consider the impact on other things, such as food storage, cooking, heating etc. But our focus on this site is centred around the digital connectivity side.

What does the industry say?

The UK Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) told ISPreview.co.uk that there had been no formal engagement with telecoms operators by the government over the issue of energy rationing. But Mobile UK said that mobile operators were engaging with the Government and the wider energy sector on this, although they had nothing further to add.

A Spokesperson for the ISPA said:

“Telecoms is a resilient sector and operators have different kinds of backup systems in place for good business practice or regulatory requirements. Industry will continue to monitor developments in this area.”

A Spokesperson for the Mobile UK said:

“Mobile network infrastructure has built-in resilience to cover temporary power outages with extended backup systems for critical sites, including rapid response teams. The industry is working closely with the Government and the energy sector to explore further measures in the face of changing requirements driven by issues such as climate change.”

However, sources in a couple of major network operators did suggest that Ofcom are looking at the possibility of helping energy providers to prioritise telecoms businesses over other businesses (i.e. quicker repairs) during major disruptions, such as those caused by storms. At present this doesn’t happen and would be hard to do, given how many network operators exist. But in any case, the details are currently vague.

In keeping with that, some telecoms operators (e.g. BT / Openreach) have already developed a process whereby Distribution Network Operators (DNO) are alerted to power failures at both exchange sites and street cabinets, which could lead to quicker decisions on power restoration.

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