How your World Cup viewing could cause rare late night power surges

The World Cup is forecast to result in rare late night and early morning peaks in energy demand, according to the company that runs the UK's power network.

Scotland's group matches will come during what are usually the quietest hours for electricity use - including a 02:00 kick-off.

England's group games will be late night in terms of UK time, with the latest of them kicking off at 22:00.

The National Energy System Operator (Neso) said each of Scotland and England's group games could see about 600MW more electricity being used nationally - the equivalent of the total electricity demand for Glasgow and Leeds combined.

Millions of TVs - and kettles being boiled for a half-time caffeine boost - along with fridges being opened and closed as people get cold drinks and snacks would cause surges, said Neso.

Neso's job is to make sure supply meets the UK's essential energy demands every day of the week.

Analysts at its Electricity National Control Centre have been forecasting what could happen during the World Cup, which starts later this month.

Scotland's first game, against Haiti on 14 June, kicks off at 02:00, followed by 23:00 starts against Morocco on 19 June and Brazil on 24 June.

England's matches against Croatia on 17 June and Ghana on 23 June both kick off at 21:00, before taking on Panama on 27 June at 22:00.

Both countries will play their group games in the US.

Neso said England's opening match against Croatia would likely draw the biggest audience.

It said energy demand could rise by as much as 800MW - higher than the 600MW spike during England's 1966 World Cup win.

Neso said demand would be expected to increase even more the further England and Scotland go in the tournament, with the biggest games attracting the most viewers.

The current record was set during England's 1990 semi-final against West Germany, when a missed penalty in the shootout was followed by a 2,800MW surge - the equivalent to more than a million kettles being switched on at once.

Highest demand is expected to be at half-time and full-time, and Neso said its control room was ready to use technologies such as battery farms and pumped hydro storage schemes to keep the system balanced.

And it said this year's World Cup was likely to be the "cleanest" with about 40–50% of the electricity used expected to come from renewables.

More energy efficient TVs are also expected to help keep usage lower than in the past.

Neso said it was a "big change" from USA 94 when TVs were largely powered by electricity from coal-fired power stations.

Director of system operations, Craig Dyke, said engineers would be working "around the clock" to balance supply and demand.

He said: "Whether you're cheering on the home nations, your sweepstake side, or for me - wishing Wales were there - this year's World Cup has more games than ever before, meaning we're likely to see a surge in electricity demand across the longer tournament.

"While what happens on the pitch can always throw up surprises, watching this year's World Cup will almost certainly be powered by the cleanest electricity in history.

Over the years, other TV moments have caused power surges.

They include a 2001 episode of EastEnders when millions of viewers tuned in to watch the shooting of hardman Phil Mitchell.