Storm Power Cuts: Severe Weather Storm Check

Latest update

Storm Ciara

Our engineers have worked hard to restore electricity to 99% of the 353,000 homes and businesses affected by Storm Ciara. It continues to be a busy time as we complete the remaining repairs to power lines, and we appreciate how difficult it is if you are still without heating and lights. Our teams are continuing to work to restore electricity to 1400 properties across the East, and 700 in the South East. We also have hundreds of customer service staff to keep people updated and help families in vulnerable circumstances.

Dangerous situation?

Please treat electricity cables as live, stay away and call us immediately, 24 hours a day on 0800 31 63 105 or 105 (free to call from a landline or a mobile phone). If you see electricity lines that are down or causing significant risk to the public please call 999.

Power off?

Enter your postcode to search, track and report power cuts.

What are you doing to get my power back on?

We are working as quickly as is safely possible to get everyone’s power back on. We have extra engineers working, more employees ready to answer your calls and we’re contacting customers who need extra support when they have no power.

Help

Will I be given any additional information if I call you ?

No, the same information will be given over the phone by our customer services advisors.

Our advice to prepare for a power cut

Keep our phone numbers handy, call 105 or 0800 31 63 105 (free to call from a landline or mobile phone)
We urge customers who need extra support during a power cut to register for our Priority Services Register
Keep a torch with spare batteries. Take care if using candles
Keep a phone with a cord, as cordless phones don’t work in a power cut
Its especially important if you are unwell, less mobile or very young to keep warm. Dress warmly with layers, a hat and gloves and have blankets to hand, so you can keep warm until the power is back on. You can also reduce the heat loss by closing doors on unused rooms and closing your curtains.

Why can’t you get my power back on quicker?

We aim to connect most customer supplies remotely from our control centre to get power back on as swiftly as possible. Many faults will need our engineers to drive to site to locate, excavate and repair a fault. Road conditions make travel more difficult for our engineers across the East and South East, slowing down our access to repairs, often in remote rural areas. Our teams use 4x4s to reach overhead power lines, underground cables and electricity substations across challenging terrain and in severe weather conditions.

Extra support to those who need it during this weather

We can offer extra assistance to those who need it. We can offer a priority number that you can call 24 hours a day and a dedicated team who will contact you to keep you updated during a power cut. Sign up to our Priority Services Register to get this free support.

Please call us on 0800 31 63 105 or 105 and we can help. Please look out for neighbours, friends or relatives during this time and let us know so we can help them.

How long will the food last in my fridge and freezer without power?

You may be concerned at this time about the food in your fridge and freezer. Food should keep for between 4-6 hours in the fridge and 15-24 hours in the freezer if you can avoid opening it.

My mobile phone battery is low. How do I reserve my battery?

If your mobile phone is running low on battery then here are a few tips to extend your battery life.

Use the extra power saving mode if you have it
Cut apps running in the background
Turn down screen brightness
Top up your battery in your car if you have a car charger

How do you get my power back on during a power cut?

We can restore some power supplies on our high voltage network by remote control from our office, but many other sites need to be individually visited and assessed by our engineers before replacement equipment can be ordered and repair work can then start.

How do you prioritise who gets their power back first?

Our engineers are based out on the road and work from job to job, restoring power supplies as quickly and safely as possible. Where possible they prioritise the incidents where we know the largest number of customers are affected.

How did we prepare for the weather?

We worked very closely with the Met Office before the storm and put in robust plans to minimise the disruption you may experience from a storm of this scale.