blackouts this winter. the scheme, which requires a smart meter, is being trialled by energy suppliers who will pay customers to reduce their electricity use at peak times. although power outages are unlikely, it s part of national grid s contingency plan, as our business correspondent emma simpson reports. it s the time of day when many of us get home, put on the lights and all the appliances, as well. but millions of us could now earn money off our bills by using less electricity when demand is at its peak. julie in saffron walden is up for it. so what i ve done is i ve ditched the kettle and i ve bought this water dispenser. and the reason i ve done that is because i was finding that i was boiling the same piece of water time and time again. i hear you. she s already taken part in a small trial this year, and is signed up for the national grid s new scheme. if you ve got enough notice which normally may be the day before you can plan around it, you can just sort of say, we re go
our business correspondent emma simpson reports. the nights are drawing in, with an energy crisis across europe. will we be able to keep the lights on this winter? we need gas notjust to heat our homes but to produce a lot of electricity as well. national grid says the network should be able to cope with demand, but if it s a cold winter like this one we may need to rely more on imports. national grid says these are unprecedented times, thanks to the war on ukraine and its impact on gas supplies from russia. you can see from this chart we produce nearly half of their gas from the north sea. the rest is imports, and only a fraction from russia. of course that is now gone, but other countries where much more dependent on russian gas. though
further loss of life. but there s no sign of the plan working yet. the numbers arriving in the uk are still rising. this month, the number of arrivals by boat reached a new record. jane corbin, bbc news. and you can watch panorama s channel crisis: can people smugglers be stopped? 0n bbc one at 8 o clock tonight. budget supermarket chains like aldi and lidl say they re seeing an increase in customers and sales because of the cost of living crisis. aldi, which recently overtook morrisons to become the fourth biggest supermarket in the uk, claims it s gained more than a million customers in the last few months. last year, aldi s profits fell sharply but its boss has told the bbc customers are now switching to it in droves. our business correspondent emma simpson reports.
emma simpson reports. in canterbury, a new pizza chain has hit the high street. cosy club opened here in the last fortnight as well and around the corner, a new furniture store in the shopping centre. ~ , ., centre. we ve seen coming out ofthe centre. we ve seen coming out of the pandemic centre. we ve seen coming out of the pandemic that centre. we ve seen coming out of the pandemic that national i of the pandemic that national retailers are really looking at new space. they are keen to come in and open stores. we ve also seen retailers who were already here investing in their space and spending money refurbishing their stores and looking for other opportunities. looking for other ouortunities. ,, , looking for other ouortunities. ,, opportunities. shoppers are noticina opportunities. shoppers are noticing the opportunities. shoppers are noticing the changes - opportunities. shoppers are noticing the changes too. i opportunities. shoppers are i noticing the changes too. the sh
radio this morning, says the two candidates have been coming up with small measures he says they need to act quickly and they need to go further than anyone expects you to do, in order to shore up confidence in the economy. we don t have a full plans from either candidate yet. 0ne plans from either candidate yet. one of them will be going into downing street one week today, and when they do, there will be pressure to spell exact out exactly what they mean to do. new figures show that chain store closures have dropped by 30% in the first six months of this year compared with the previous 12 months. but there are fears the cost of living crisis could send this recovery into reverse. our business correspondent emma simpson reports. here is a high street that s seeing more openings than closures. from a new pizza chain, a furniture shop, and around the corner, cozy club has just arrived. a once empty unit getting a new lease of life. we believe we can open up pretty much on every high stre