Can we keep the lights on this winter?
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 1 September 2022
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Soaring household bills have made energy the number one issue facing the government and consumers in Britain. But in addition to the cost, there may be another problem ahead as winter approaches. Experts are increasingly worried about the supply of both electricity and gas from Europe, and how that might affect the power system here.
So how worried should we be about energy shortages? And what can the government do to limit their impact?
Joining David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room are: Kathryn Porter, Energy Analyst at Watt Logic Javier Blas, Energy Columnist at Bloomberg Elisabetta Cornago, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform David Sheppard, Energy Editor at the Financial Times Michael Bradshaw, Professor of Global Energy at the University of Warwick.
Producers: Paul Connolly, Kirsteen Knight and Simon Watts. Editor: Richard Vadon. Studio Manager: James Beard. Production co-ordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross.
PHOTO: An electricity substation in East London (Daniel LEAL / AFP)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.7 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David O'Ronovich. |
| 0:09.5 | The briefing room is the booklined placed in the metaverse, |
| 0:12.7 | where the top experts get 28 minutes to explain a big issue to us. |
| 0:17.9 | This week, never mind the cast, will there be enough energy this winter? |
| 0:28.7 | Impending Doom, part 99. A few weeks ago, the briefing room looked in detail at energy bills |
| 0:35.0 | as part of our program on the cost of living crisis. |
| 0:38.3 | But what if, whatever the cost, there just isn't enough power available to light our offices, |
| 0:44.7 | heat our homes, and run our factories? |
| 0:47.5 | Not just here, but in Europe too. |
| 0:50.3 | How secure is our power supply? |
| 0:53.0 | Step into the briefing room and we'll find out. |
| 0:59.8 | First into the briefing room, a Catherine Porter, an independent energy consultant who runs a company called What Logic, |
| 1:06.8 | and Javier Blas, energy colonist at Bloomberg News. |
| 1:11.2 | Catherine Porter, do you think that while we've been talking and agonising about the cost of energy, |
| 1:15.0 | we should have been looking more closely at whether we're facing a problem of supply? |
| 1:19.5 | Well, I do. I mean, the problem of affordability is very serious, |
| 1:22.6 | and many households will be in difficulty this winter, so we can't deprioritise that. |
| 1:28.3 | But there is also a risk that we will run out of electricity and we need to deal with that also. Now, why is this? |
| 1:34.4 | Let's go back to basics. How does the UK actually generate its electricity and where does it come from? |
| 1:39.3 | Well, most of our electricity is generated with gas and gas-fired generation is the most important source of |
| 1:45.5 | electricity in Britain. We've got nuclear power as well, although that's declining because |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.