This has turned political. The government should, various parties argue, have been able to guarantee supply. All very well. I’d suggest another role for government: it should have urged folk, where possible, to curb their use and decrease the load. It’s nice to have, but air conditioning is not compulsory or necessary.

Restraint was never suggested, and maybe if it had been, people would have been prepared to suffer a little more in the heat and save the power load for the people who really needed it. Or maybe not.

It doesn’t say a lot for the sort of sacrifice that will probably be necessary to bring big long-term changes to climate to heel, that we can’;t get through three days of high heat without bringing our power system to its keens due to the over use of various comforting appliances.

It says even less that we see this sort of access to high-cost technology as a right that should be guaranteed by government. That’s an attitude that will need to change methinks.

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