n: It's not an overstatement to say that the Brits like their tea and telly. But is it true that this can cause massive power surges?
THE BRITISH love affair with tea is legendary, with millions of cups brewed daily across the United Kingdom in a ritual as quintessentially British as queuing and apologising unnecessarily.
During major televised events, this innocent beverage tradition creates an extraordinary challenge for the National Grid, as millions of viewers simultaneously rush to their kettles during advertisement breaks and half-time.
Do British tea drinkers really cause massive power surges that the National Grid must scramble to manage?
Verdict:
TRUE
The British kettle surge is absolutely real, and it's one of the most uniquely British problems imaginable: a nation so devoted to tea that it can send the entire electrical grid into overdrive during the World Cup.
Known officially as "TV pickup", the phenomenon occurs when millions of people do exactly the same thing at exactly the same time: rush to the kitchen during ad breaks or half-time to put the kettle on.
The result is a massive, sudden spike in electricity demand that engineers must frantically scramble to meet.
The electricity system operator of the UK's National Grid has become so familiar with this peculiarly British crisis that it actively monitors TV schedules and works with reserve power stations to prepare for the onslaught.
These surges typically happen during the big moments (football matches, royal weddings, popular TV finales) when the entire nation is glued to their screens.
The numbers are genuinely staggering. One of the biggest surges ever recorded hit an estimated 2,800 megawatts when England lost to Germany in the 1990 World Cup semi-final.
That's the equivalent of more than a million kettles all switched on simultaneously, each one screaming for tea to soothe the pain of penalty shootout heartbreak.
More recent events have proved equally dramatic.
During the 2018 World Cup, England's match against Panama saw around 300,000 kettles fired up at half-time.
The final episode of EastEnders' "Who Killed Lucy Beale?" storyline in 2015 caused a surge of 1,200MW as viewers rushed to brew tea and process the shocking revelation.
Even the 2019 final of The Great British Bake Off generated a pickup of around 560MW, because apparently, watching people make cakes makes Britons desperate for a cuppa.
But the Euro 2020 final takes the crown for recent history. When England faced Italy on July 11, 2021, some 16 million kettles switched on at the same time, consuming a whopping 1,800MW (1.8 gigawatts) of energy. It's a miracle the lights stayed on.
National Grid engineers have essentially become TV critics by necessity. The control room team watches live television to spot the exact moment when millions of viewers might head to the kitchen. Imagine explaining that job requirement during an interview.
They've got it down to a fine art, predicting pickups to within a few seconds and bringing reserve power online about 30 seconds before the surge hits.
The phenomenon is uniquely British because of the nation's particular combination of tea obsession and kettle ubiquity.
Electric kettles guzzle around three kilowatts of power each, more than most other household appliances. When you multiply that by millions of simultaneous users, you've got yourself a proper energy crisis brewing (pun absolutely intended).
To handle these surges, the National Energy System Operator Ltd (which operates the National Grid) deploys pumped storage hydroelectric schemes that can respond in just 15 seconds by releasing water through turbines.
It also coordinates with battery storage facilities and other reserve power stations to keep everything stable. It's an impressive feat of engineering, all in service of the nation's tea habit.
The phenomenon has become such a part of British cultural identity that energy researchers now study it, and it has evolved into a point of bizarre national pride.
It's worth noting that these dramatic surges only happen during special televised events, not daily. Major pickups require millions of people watching the same programme at the same time, which is becoming increasingly rare in the streaming era.
Regular daily tea-making, while still consuming significant energy overall, is spread throughout the day and doesn't create the same concentrated chaos.
In fact, modern viewing habits are gradually diminishing the phenomenon.
With the rise of Netflix, iPlayer and catch-up TV, fewer people watch programmes simultaneously, which is reducing the size of these surges.
Future generations may never experience TV pickups in the same way, as appointment viewing becomes a relic of the past.
So yes, the British kettle surge is absolutely real and requires careful grid management during major televised events.
Thanks to the National Grid's sophisticated monitoring and reserve power systems, these predictable surges are handled smoothly.
The United Kingdom's tea-making tradition marches on, one World Cup at a time, without ever plunging the country into darkness, though it's been a close-run thing on occasion.
References:
1. https://energysavingtrust.org.
2. https://www.nationalgrid.com/
3. https://www.bbc.com/news/
5. https://
6. https://www.electricaltimes.
