Noticed this a few times myself actually. Back in 2019 there was a weird rolling blackout across parts of the north west, lasted maybe 20 minutes, and within 48 hours that whole story about the government data contracts broke. Could be coincidence obviously but it stuck in my mind.
The thing is, modern infrastructure is tied into so much sensitive comms equipment that if someone wanted to create a window - even a brief one - where certain monitoring systems go dark, a localised outage would do it. Not saying thats definitely whats happening but its worth tracking.
Anyone keeping a log of dates and locations? Even a rough spreadsheet would be useful. If theres a genuine pattern it needs data behind it, otherwise its just vibes and people will dismiss it. I'd be willing to contribute dates for the Cheshire area if someone wants to start collating.