In Britain, the world’s sixth-largest economy, it has long been taken for granted by many that our electricity provision is fit for purpose. But for the first time in almost half a century, this supposed guarantee of living in the first world is no longer so cast-iron. National Grid, the organisation responsible for balancing Britain's electricity supplies, has warned in its annual winter outlook that Europe faces a “challenging winter for energy supply”. In the event of reduced gas and electric imports from the continent, coupled with insufficient gas supply in Britain, National Grid warns there will be a “large negative surplus” of energy. This may result in emergency measures that would leave some customers “without power for pre-defined periods during a day – generally this is assumed to be for three-hour blocks.” While National Grid stresses that this situation continues to be an “unlikely event”, and that it remains “cautiously confident” of maintaining supplies throughout ...