Way back in the 70’s we had the 3 day week. It’s a long and political story that lead to the Winter of Discontent in 1978. There’s a ton of stuff to read if you want to.
Three-Day Week
The Three-Day Week was one of several measures introduced in the United Kingdom in 1973–1974 by Edward Heath's Conservative government to conserve electricity, the generation of which was severely restricted owing to industrial action by coal miners and railway workers. From 1 January 1974, commercial users of electricity were limited to three specified consecutive days' consumption each week and prohibited from working longer hours on those days. Services deemed essential (e.g. hospitals, dat...
Basically, the 3 day week means the lights went off, not many people had televisions, cooking wasn’t electric, heating and cooking were gas.
So we lit Tilley, Vapalux, or other old paraffin lamps and heaters instead. The most famous clean burning paraffin heater being the Aladdin.
Every petrol station here had an Esso Blue pump for filling cans with clean burning paraffin (clean kerosene) for our lamps, heaters and stoves. And as it is today, it’s an up yours to anyone telling me I have to pay ‘the man’ to have to cook and heat on domestic supply.
This Vapalux belonged to my dad who was a vet (animals not Vietnam). As a child I helped him deliver calves, find lost sheep and lambs, watch piglets being born, and light us playing Monopoly or cards round the table at night.
And here it is hissing and glowing to this day. Always a pleasing thing is this lantern
Over in the US you still have Miles Stair, an old connection of mine for importing CountyComm stuff to the UK, an Endtimer, survivalist, and an enthusiast of this wonderful old tech.
http://www.endtimesreport.com/
Any UK residents can find a similar love for all things lighting, heating, cooking at Base-camp. There are two people (Mike and Amanda) who run it, husband and wife, massively knowledgeable on all of it. If you phone and want to chat, make a big mug of tea and have biscuits in your pocket, these chats can take literally hours. Proper old school people, I love them.