The United Kingdom’s (UK) food industry has been asked to prepare plans to avoid empty shelves and NHS bosses have been asked to ensure 'diesel tanks are full' as the country braces for winter blackouts in January next.

Amid the warnings, the food and drink industry has been asked to come up with plans to avoid empty shelves in the event of blackouts, while ministers have ordered NHS bosses to make sure their ‘generators are properly serviced’ and ‘diesel tanks are full’.

There are reports that a perfect storm of gas shortages from Europe could also lead to planned blackouts in winter which could impact on businesses and homes across the Britain, as well as forcing the closure of other government establishments.

As the government prepares for winter, people familiar with its plans have suggested the 'reasonable worst-case scenario' indicates electricity capacity could fall short by a sixth of peak demand.

This could spark emergency blackouts, reads the report.

If the blackouts .are put in place, it would come at the same time as when energy bills are expected to surge past £4,000 as the price cap set by regulator Ofgem more than doubles.

A dire new forecast by energy consultancy Cornwall Insight has predicted this will rise even further in April as bills surge to £4,400, with consumer campaigners such as Martin Lewis demanding action from the government.

In the event of power shortages this winter, it is reported that those running the gas network will temporarily override commercial agreements to direct the flow of gas.

This would be followed by stopping gas from being sent to power stations, which would see blackouts take place, raising spectres of the 1970s.

This would be despite contingency plans being brought online, including firing up emergency coal power plants and the restoration of Britain's biggest gas storage site at Rough, and could leave the UK relying on imports from the EU and Norway.

This is fraught with risk though, with Norway recently announcing with it was looking at ways of limiting electricity exports to prevent blackouts in its own country this winter, while France's nuclear grid which normally exports electricity, only has half its power plants running at the moment due to maintenance and repair issues.

There will be hopes that European nations will be keen to help with gas and electricity supplies after the UK shipped record amounts of gas to the continent in the months following the Russian invasion of Ukraine to shore up supplies there.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said the reports of potential blackouts is 'wilfully misleading and not something we expect to happen

“We are not dependent on Russian energy imports, unlike Europe, with access to our own North Sea gas reserves, steady imports from reliable partners, the second largest LNG port infrastructure in Europe, and a gas supply underpinned by robust legal contracts, meaning households, businesses and industry can be confident they will get the electricity and gas they need.”

It also could raise difficult choices for Prime Minister Boris Johnson's successor with Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak both potentially facing an energy crisis in their first few months in office, in addition to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis which has seen energy bills surge.

Energy consultancy Cornwall Insight predicted bills will increase to around £3,582 in October, up from £1,971 today, before rising even further in the New Year.

Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul