London: As a blistering heatwave swept across France, plunging swathes of the country into blackouts, Britain’s energy operators were scrambling to keep the lights on at home while dispatching emergency power supplies across the Channel. The crisis, which saw temperatures hit 42°C in Paris, has exposed the fragility of Europe’s interconnected energy network and the harsh reality of a changing climate for working families on both sides of the border.
For the French, the blackouts have been punishing. In the northern suburbs of Lille, residents spent a second night in stifling darkness, unable to run fans or refrigerators. Mothers queued for bottled water. Shops shuttered early, their stock spoiling. One father told me his 70-year-old mother, who relies on a nebuliser for her asthma, was forced to sit in a parked car with the air conditioning running, because the hospital had lost power.
But this isn’t just a story about France. It’s a story about how our own energy grid, long starved of investment and battered by market volatility, is being stretched to breaking point. The National Grid has confirmed it is diverting spare capacity to France under a mutual aid agreement – a move that risks leaving British households exposed if the heatwave turns north. Labour unions have warned that the government’s failure to secure domestic energy supplies is now a matter of national security.
“We have been warning for years that our energy system is not resilient enough,” said Sarah Jones, a senior official at the GMB union. “Workers in this country are already facing sky-high bills. If we have to bail out France while our own power stations are mothballed, people will be left in the dark and in debt.”
At the heart of the problem is an ageing nuclear fleet. France’s state-owned EDF, which also runs several British reactors, has had to shut down multiple plants due to a combination of high river temperatures – which prevent cooling – and corrosion issues. That left the country with its lowest nuclear output in decades just as demand skyrocketed.
Meanwhile, here in Britain, the cost of living crisis has made every kilowatt-hour a point of anxiety. Energy bills have doubled in two years. Pensioners are skipping meals to pay their direct debits. And now there is the prospect of further price spikes as we are forced to import electricity from Norway and the Netherlands at record rates.
The government insists the situation is under control. A Downing Street spokesperson said: “We are proud to support our French allies. The UK’s energy system remains secure.” But for families struggling to keep cool, secure feels like a distant promise. In Manchester, where temperatures hit 35°C yesterday, the shadow of the blackouts looms large. One community organiser told me that if the power goes off in her tower block, there is no plan for where vulnerable residents will go.
Europe’s energy crisis is not a one-off. It is the new normal. And unless we start paying for proper infrastructure, insulating homes and securing fair wages for those who keep the system running, we will be left not just sweating, but stumbling in the dark.
