candle blackout energy crisis
'Get your candles ready,' one person tweeted about the possibility of blackouts tonight
Panic was sparked this evening after National Grid warned of potential blackouts tonight before cancelling the notice.

The automated alert warned that due to 'tight' capacity homes could lose power at around 7pm tonight.

But the alert was later cancelled as electricity firm told consumers that there is enough power to keep the lights on tonight.

The capacity market notice (CMN) was issued at 2.33pm this evening to be in effect from 7pm.

National Grid blackout
National Grid cancelled the notice after 3pm this evening
This means that there may be less electricity generated than what the expected demand would be, resulting in power outages where those needs are not met.

But ESO National Grid withdrew the notice said on Twitter at 3:15pm: 'The ESO has now withdrawn the Capacity Market Notice issued at 2:33pm today'.

It had previously said: 'The ESO is confident that electricity margins are sufficient for this evening.

'However, a capacity market notice (CMN) has been triggered by the automated system.

'CMN forecasts are issued automatically and are only based on information in the public domain.

'They do not take into account all the factors which our engineers are working on.'

A warning is issued in the face of the possibility that energy demands will not be met by generation.

Britons were concerned about potential blackouts, with one Twitter user tweeting: 'National grid has apparently announced that its struggling to cope with the amount of energy being used in the UK and we could have a blackout from 7pm tonight.

'Let's hope it's a bunch of b****** and doesn't happen.'

Another tweeted: 'Get your candles ready.'

The National Grid ESO website says: 'A Capacity Market Notice is a signal four hours in advance that, when taking into account additional operational reserve requirements, there may be less generation available than National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) expects to need to meet national electricity demand on the transmission system.

'The notices are intended to be a signal that the risk of a System Stress Event in the GB electricity network is higher than under normal circumstances.

'Capacity Market Notices are communicated automatically by National Grid ESO systems to this website and will be issued at least four hours ahead of the stated commencement time.

'The primary trigger set by the UK Government for a Capacity Market Notice to be issued to the industry is where the level of available generation is within a 500MW threshold of National Grid ESO's requirement.'