Power cuts explained

Lights out?

Power cuts are not a particularly common occurrence in Great Britain, so when the lights do go out unexpectedly, people aren't always prepared for what to do next.

Here’s our top tips of what to do and who to call if you are experiencing problems with your electricity supply.

5 things to do in a power cut

If you think you're experiencing a power cut, here's a checklist of 5 things you need to do:

National Grid ESO - What to do in a power cut - power cut checklist infographic

1. Find out if it’s just your house that’s lost power

When the power goes off, you need to find out whether it’s a local problem or something bigger.

Your first port of call should be your consumer unit (you might know it as your ‘fuse box’) to see whether something in your home has caused it to trip and cut off your electricity.

If any of the circuit breaker switches are in the OFF position, simply move the switch into the ON position to reset it.

This should resolve the issue. If the fault keeps happening, leave the power off and call an emergency electrician to come and check it out for you.

3. Check if it's a distribution network issue

If you notice there are quite a few streets in your area without electricity, the problem is most likely to be with your local distribution network i.e. the cables that distribute power from the grid to your house.

These power cuts may affect large parts of a village, town or city. In these situations, your local distribution network operator will be the one getting the power back on for you.

There are nine of these distribution network operators covering the whole of GB. They take the high voltage power from the national transmission network, reduce the voltage and send it out to homes and businesses.

Most power cuts are due to problems that happen in the distribution system, rather than issues at national transmission level so it is important you report any power cuts to your distribution network operator.

The good news is that similar to the road network, there is normally more than one route to get power from A to B in the distribution network. If there is an issue with one route, engineers can reroute your supply and get you back up and running while they fix the initial problem.

This isn’t always possible though – perhaps because there aren’t any other routes available, or because of planned maintenance works being carried out on the only other way it could go.

Call 105 to find out who your distribution network operator is and report the fault to them (if necessary), and to find out more about the problem and how long it might take to get your power back on.

The 105 helpline is available 24/7 to answer your queries.

Power cuts explained

5 things to do in a power cut

1. Find out if it’s just your house that’s lost power

2. Check if the whole street is out

3. Check if it's a distribution network issue

4. Check if it's a regional blackout

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