The government is beginning to prepare seriously for the possibility of massive power cuts this winter, and more particularly next January. In the event of power cuts (rotating load shedding), it will sometimes be impossible to contact the emergency services. Orange warns that “if mobile services are switched off, there will be no access to the emergency number”. We explain why.
Winter is likely to be harsh in France this year. And especially the month of January 2023. Indeed, RTE, the subsidiary of EDF which manages the electricity network, warned of a high risk of recourse to the Ecowatt red device, and therefore of power cuts in metropolitan France at the beginning next year.
RTE qualifies, however, by indicating that this ” will largely depend on weather conditions and the possible occurrence of even a moderate cold snap“. At issue: our fleet of nuclear power plants, which is taking longer than expected to restart.
The government is preparing for rolling cuts
The government is therefore preparing for rotating blackouts, also called rotating load shedding. This is to avoid a blackout , a situation in which the whole of France would be deprived of electricity, because of a higher demand than electricity production at a given moment. Rotating load shedding therefore makes it possible tolower the country’s instantaneous consumptionby disconnecting from the network, for a maximum of two hours, certain customers, grouped by zones.
European 1managed to obtain the circular that the Prime Minister, Elizabeth Borne, plans to send to the prefects to properly manage these power cuts. In the document, an entire section is dedicated to the difficulties in contacting the emergency services in the event of rotating load shedding.
Because mobile phone antennas will also be affected by these cuts. Indeed, as noted Le FigaroOrange warns that “ if mobile services are turned off, there will be no access to the emergency number“.
The difficulty of contacting the emergency services in the event of a power cut
We can read that ” one of the consequences of the interruption of the electrical distribution is that it will lead to interruptions in electronic communications (mobile and fixed telephony)“. Before specifying that only copper lines, with functional telephone T-socket, will be operational “. Put another way, it will still be possible to use a traditional fixed linebut not a fixed line connected to an Internet box.
Remember that the fixed telephony network is safe from cuts, thanks to the batteries capable of supplying the historic network for several hours. Regarding the mobile antennas, they are well equipped with batteries, but their autonomy is not more than 30 minutes.
Be careful, however, since even if the fixed telephone network is still in operation during power cuts, most landline phones require a power supply to operate. If you don’t have inverters, a storage battery (portable power station) or a generator, your landline phone won’t work, except with an older model that wouldn’t require a dedicated power supply.
Mobile telephony: an even more complex situation
For mobile telephony, the situation is even more complicated than for landlines. It should be remembered that the rotating load shedding will be done by zone, since the cut will occur at the level of one or more source substations as specified Enedis at AFP. Each area concerned is smaller than a department, since there are a total of 2,300 source substations in France for 96 departments and 2,054 cantons. Put another way, in the event of a cut, at least and approximately an entire canton could be deprived of electricity.
If your operator’s mobile antenna is powered by the same source substation as your home and you have no power, it will simply impossible to contact the emergency services with traditional numbers (15, 17, 18, 115, 196). Except during the first thirty minutes of outage in the event that the antenna is powered by a battery.
In the event that your mobile telephone operator has another antenna, not far away, and powered by another source station which is not subject to a power cut, it will then be possible to continue to make calls. . Otherwise, if ever a mobile antenna from another operator is not far from your home and it is still powered, then it will be possible to contact the emergency services, but only via the number 112.
Call the emergency room with 112? Yes, but not necessarily
The 112 makes it possible to go through any operator present in the coverage area to route the emergency call. You still have to be in an area covered by at least one mobile antenna still supplied with electricity.
Because otherwise, it will be impossible to reach the emergency services. The government is working on a ” mapping of areas that would not be covered by 112in order to take the necessary measures in conjunction with the prefectures.
In the worst case, if you need to contact the emergency services in the event of a rotating load shedding, it will always be possible to go to an emergency reception center (firefighters, police, gendarmerie, municipal police) “in order to take into account an unexpected request for emergency assistance by a citizen coming into contact“.
A physical presence in town halls and in predefined places makes it possible to “relay the alert to the emergency, health and safety services, for the duration of the load shedding and the possible cut of the telephone network“.
The iPhone 14: the great saviour?
Finally, another solution is to use a satellite phone, or quite simply the Apple iPhone 14, which precisely incorporates a satellite emergency call function in white areas. The function, already in service in the United States, should be deployed in France during the month of December if we are to believe Apple’s recent announcements.
The winter is going to be tough in Europe because of the energy crisis. In the worst case, it could be that the French mobile networks of Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile, Orange and SFR are disconnected…
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