LMH “left in the dark” amidst ongoing power outages

Bintia Dennog reports.

Recent power cuts at Lady Margaret Hall have been the result of “simply using too much electricity”, according to an email the college sent out to its students. In an effort to reduce energy consumption, the residents have been urged to limit use of electrical appliances.

Students were left in the dark as the power cuts occurred on Monday and Tuesday of Week 2, with the ones on Tuesday totalling around an hour, according to an LMH student. The outages were said to have resulted from “multiple electric heaters being plugged in”, as they use up a constant and signifcant amount of energy. Due to this, the main kitchens had little bandwidth when cooking meals which, along with the usage of kettles and cookers during meal times, caused the fuse to blow

LMH urged its residents to “help us all live together conscientiously for now”, adding that when “the weather warms up […] we should have a bit more head room but right now we don’t have much at all”. The college requested that students “limit [their] use of high current items such as heaters, ovens and kettles. If you are cooking dinner please don’t leave an electric heater on in your room.” Commenting on the situation, one LMH student told Cherwell: “I completely understand where college is coming from in regards to reducing energy consumption. However their solutions to heating failure are counterproductive, giving out electric heaters to students