Global warming and privatisation have put enormous strain on one of our most critical services. Under state owned electricity production, Britain enjoyed a 30% surpless of supply – 10% more than the recommended amount. The move away from state owned production has caused prices to tumble, but at what cost? Private electricity generating companies have closed plants, and slashed what it sees as “excess” power, in a bid to stay competitive, but this spells trouble for the future...

The power problem peaked in the summer, during a heatwave that caused lots of people to buy air conditioning units – The extra strain put on the system brought surpless power levels down to just 8%, not even close to the advised 20% safety margin.

To bolster our confidence in the country's power grid further, industry experts warn power cuts are looming. Mike Carviou, a National Grid Transco director said: “There are risks of disruption this winter. Sufficient plant is not available to meet operational requirements.”

Ian Fells (Professor of energy conversion at the University of Newcastle, and leading government adviser) says power companies are losing money, and being forced to cut production to a minimum. Referring to the recent blackouts in America, he warns; the UK could face similar failures in the event of a particularly cold winter. Furthermore, he says the National Grid admitted there would be “vulnerable weeks” in January and February, when it might not be able to guarantee supplies. He finishes by saying “We are operating a vastly underfunded system, running on razor-thin safety margins.

Businesses that are dependent on computer systems should take this as a reminder; it is probably time to check those Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) batteries, and test your data backup routines.