Andrew White says households should treat blackout UK planning as a practical emergency, not a theory. He warned that a prolonged failure of the UK electricity grid could cut people off for days, while the UK Government is telling families to keep wind-up FM radios ready.
The warning sits beside a wider preparedness push built around surviving at least 72 hours. White said a severe outage could stretch for weeks or months, and that restarting a dark grid is not as simple as switching it back on.
Andrew White on blackout UK risks
White, the chief executive and telecommunications and data centre expert at Harberry Limited, described a “black sky event” as a catastrophic, long-duration failure of critical national infrastructure. He said it can be triggered by extreme natural hazards or deliberate attacks.
“A ‘black sky event’ is typically characterised as a catastrophic, long-duration failure of critical national infrastructure, especially the electric grid, lasting weeks or months, triggered by extreme natural hazards or deliberate attacks,” he said.
He said trains may not be able to run, electronic payment systems can be interrupted, telecommunications may be overloaded, and road networks and logistics systems may not function correctly. He also said once the grid is restarted, the other services still need to be restarted.
Be Ready and the UK Government
The UK Government’s Be Ready campaign says people should stockpile essential items for crises including major power outages, cyber attacks and severe weather that cut off vital services. Wind-up FM radios are on that list, alongside bottled water, a torch, tinned or non-perishable food, and alternative heating sources.
White said the emergency broadcast plan would be the “UK Emergency Broadcast System”. “It will be the 'UK Emergency Broadcast System'. In the event of a crisis, the UK government has arranged that it will be used as a means of broadcasting information to the public,” he said.
The point of the radio advice is simple: if internet-dependent systems fail, households still need one way to hear public information. That is why the government is treating FM radio as a basic item rather than an optional extra.
Lancaster in 2015
The clearest example came during the 2015 flood in Lancaster, when 61,500 people lost power. The local radio station kept broadcasting with an emergency generator even as electricity failed around it.
The UK National Grid has never experienced a total blackout in its history, and the government says there is no specific threat to the grid. Even so, the current advice is built around a long outage scenario, not a routine disruption, and the only practical response for households is to prepare for the first 72 hours and keep a battery-free way to hear updates if the lights go out.
When the grid fails, the radios matter first.
