Meet the 'preppers' who are ready if Britain is forced to turn the lights off

A few days after the war in Ukraine began, David Whiteside and his wife Julie were already anticipating the energy crisis that has unfolded in recent months.

“My wife just said, ‘Putin’s going to turn the gas off,’” he recalled. “At that point we really started thinking about what we were going to do.”

The couple have spent the past few months preparing for blackouts by buying extra supplies.

They are not alone: sales of portable generators, torches and candles have soared this year amid warnings that households could face three-hour power cuts during the winter if Britain cannot import enough energy to maintain supply. National Grid warned this week of tight supply levels as temperatures dipped and the amount of wind power typically generated fell.

Generator sales have tripled, while torch sales are up 43pc on last year, according to Toolstation. Sales of candles have risen by 114pc in a year, according to John Lewis.

There was nearly a fivefold increase in lantern sales at Go Outdoors, which also reported year-on-year rises for power sources and batteries (up 46pc), fuel (up 44pc), camping stoves (up 44pc) and torches (up 17pc).

Mr Whiteside, 64, bought one tonne of dried wood and 500kg of smokeless coal for his log burner, which would be able to provide heating if the power went out in their home in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. He and his wife bought the appliance a few years ago but it is not being used frequently.

To light their home in the event of a blackout, they have two solar-powered batteries. They also bought five gallons of paraffin for heaters, as well as two 15kg Butane gas bottles for their camping stove. In total, they spent £750 on their emergency supplies.

Mr Whiteside lived in Northern Ireland during the general strike in 1974 and the idea of taking precautions in the event of blackouts is something that stuck with him. “My wife and I decided to take some positive action to make sure we can eat and cook, because we can't rely on the Government to keep the lights on and keep the power on,” said Mr Whiteside, who has voted Tory most of his life.

‘I hope I’ll never need this’

David Bradshaw, 49, has turned to an “uninterruptible power supply” to see him through any blackouts. He bought one for £150 which is plugged into his computer and plans to buy a second for his gas heating.

In the event of a power outage, the device – a form of battery backup – would prevent his computer from shutting down and his work being lost. It would also power his heating for three hours.

“It's unlikely that we'd ever get more than a three-hour rolling blackout so I'm just looking at small cost-effective mitigations that I hope I never need,” said Mr Bradshaw, who lives in Bristol. “I'm not going to run out and spend £1,000 on a generator.”

For others, a generator is worth the extra expense. Kris Marshall, 52, from Chester, bought a small one last year for £240 when he first became worried about the prospect of blackouts.

He believed Britain was close to blackouts last year and thought the situation would only get worse because of the war in Ukraine. Mr Marshall, who spoke using a pseudonym, is worried that Britain will not be able to get the gas it needs from Europe this winter.

He expects that his generator would keep his and his two neighbours’ heating on for about 10 hours. He is happy to help them: one has a heart condition and the other is elderly and frail. The generator can also power other devices if needed but Mr Marshall said he only plans to use it for heating.

“It's like having candles in the cupboard,” he said. “It's just a little bit of preparation and foresight to make things a little bit more comfortable should the worst happen.”