Questions to the Mayor of London – answered at on 25 September 2019.
What are you doing to investigate the resilience of electrical supply to the capital, in light of the major power outages in August, which also brought chaos to major rail lines?
The power outage on 9 August [2019] caused serious problems for Londoners and it is right that everyone involved does their bit to avoid it happening again. My officers work closely with the energy suppliers to improve and maintain the resilience of the network to help keep London running smoothly. My Infrastructure High Level Group - chaired by my Deputy Mayor for Planning, Regeneration and Skills, Jules Pipe - convened senior representatives from the city’s infrastructure sectors, including energy suppliers and National Grid, to plan for the future, embedding resilience into their work as London changes and grows. The London Resilience Partnership, over 170 organisations including energy suppliers and National Grid, work together to prepare for and respond to emergencies in our city. My Deputy Mayor for and Resilience chairs regular meetings of the London Resilience Forum, setting the strategic direction for the wider partnership.
In this case London Resilience made contact with the network operators and power was restored relatively quickly. However, the resilience of the national network is the responsibility of National Grid and ultimately central Government. The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) is now investigating the circumstances surrounding the outage and could take enforcement action against National Grid if necessary.
Meanwhile in London we continue to work on energy resilience issues. In December [2018] I created an infrastructure called Nation Team, which creates collaboration across organisations. With increasing local renewable energy generation and electrification of heating transfer networks we are running smart energy programmes to pilot how we can store and use energy to reduce pressure on the grid.
Andrew Dismore AM: Thank you for that reply. It is clear you do agree that the impact on London was serious, with hundreds of people stranded at King’s Cross, at some Tube stations lights went out and staff had to guide passengers with torches and at Kentish Town, in my constituency, passengers had to leave the train and walk along the track.
The London Resilience Partnerships risk register rates the risk of failure of the national electricity transmission as very high. Do you believe increasing numbers of severe weather events due to climate change make future power cuts more likely? Could Brexit impact on electricity supply? If so, what plans have been made to respond to these risks with ever‑growing demand for electricity from homes, businesses and transport?
There are concerns many have raised in relation to the impact of Brexit on energy supply. We have been reassured by the Government there is no reason to be concerned or alarmed, the problem is they have not shared some of their analysis and the information they have used for their analysis with us. We have been told there is enough resilience there.
Your other question though is really important, about the impact of climate change on energy security. It is a more medium to long‑term issue where we need reassurance in relation to energy supplies. One of the reasons why I mentioned the pilots we are doing in relation to the local work taking place is that it helps take some of the pressure off the national grid. All of us will be looking with interest at what Ofgem says in relation to its investigation into National Grid and how it has dealt with the outage you refer to.
Andrew Dismore AM: Thank you for that. On the Brexit issue, it is actually referred to in the Operation Yellowhammer document that was published yesterday. It says there will not be immediate disruption to electricity or gas interconnectors but it could occur rapidly within months or years after EU exit. It says in that event there would not be security of supply issues. In any event it says there will be likely significant electricity price increases for consumers, business and domestic, with associated wider economic and political impacts. Therefore, it is the case that Brexit is likely to impact on electricity supply in the medium to longer term. In any event, prices are going to go up affecting Londoners, especially the less well off.
Absolutely. In my opening statement I referred to the long‑term impacts of Brexit on our city in terms of our economy, jobs and growth. The Yellowhammer document - by the way, we have not seen the redacted paragraph in relation to petrol tariffs - the Government’s own assessment is a reason to be concerned. That is why it is important the Government is straight with us in relation to what the future holds with Brexit or even worse with a catastrophic no‑deal Brexit.