I found this funny anecdote from a CNET article about the future of power:

Power and utility companies must exactly balance supply with what people consume at any given moment. UK grid operators famously must cope with a demand surge after the TV soap opera “EastEnders” ends, when thousands of people start boiling water for tea.

5 thoughts on “Peak Tea Demand

  1. For many years this was nearly the primary reason for significant utilisation of more than one UK generating facility. Its a very unusual demand, extremely peaky in nature and electricity being difficult/expensive to store (to counter peak instantaneous demands), rather than smoothly deliver led to some great solutions.

    Take a look at Dinorwig Power Station (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinorwig_Power_Station) in North Wales for instance, for more idea of probably the most successful solutions to date.

  2. In the early days of television, there was a huge strain on the water system every 30 minutes at the break between half-hour programs. I think this was before commercial breaks as we know them in modern times came to be.

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