Power cuts - help and advice

Our goal is to keep the lights on 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week. Events outside our control, such as bad weather conditions, can mean that the power is sometimes interrupted. When this happens, our first priority is to get the electricity back to normal for our customers, as quickly as possible.

What should you do if your power goes off?

1. Check your trip switch or fuses to make sure there isn’t a fault with your wiring or an appliance.
   
2. Check if any neighbours are affected. If they are, it is more likely to be a problem with the local network. If there is a network problem, please make sure you let us know.
   
3. If your your trip switch, wiring and appliances are not faulty, please phone our Emergency line. If you live outside our network area, please look at our list of national emergency phone numbers.
   
4. Check our Helpful hints and tips.
   
5. If you have faulty wiring or a problem appliance, follow our instructions to isolate the fault. and phone a qualified electrician. Don't try to repair it yourself.

Be prepared

1. Keep a battery-powered radio tuned in to your local radio station.
   
2. Keep a torch with fresh batteries in a place where you can reach it easily.
   
3. If you use other forms of heating and lighting, such as paraffin heaters and candles, don’t leave them unattended.
   
4. Switch off appliances and lights, but leave one light on so you know when power has been restored.
   
5. If you have elderly or infirm neighbours, check to make sure they are comfortable. If you know of anyone who needs priority service, e.g. anyone on a ventilator or dialysis machine, please contact our Careline team by phoning freephone 0800 622 838.
   
6. If we have warned you in advance that the electricity will be turned off, boil some water and keep it in a thermos flask. You can use it to make hot drinks or fill a hot water bottle if it gets too cold.
   
7. Don’t open the freezer door unless you have to – this helps food stay frozen for longer. When the power comes back on, check the food inside. Food should keep for about eight hours without power.
   
   If the food is still hard and icy, you can leave it in the freezer. Turn the freezer to its maximum setting for 24 hours, before putting it back on a setting that keeps it at -18°C.If the food has started to defrost, you may need to throw it away, depending on the type of food.
   
   Throw away any food that you would eat frozen, for example ice cream, if it has started to defrost. Do not refreeze these foods. If meat and fish, or foods containing these, have started to get soft, throw these away too. Watch out for liquid coming out of defrosting raw meat because this could spread bacteria to other foods.