Not many people know what to do when they have a problem with their electricity. Some people just sulk and bear-it and there are a fortunate few people that don’t suffer from the glitch as the power cut didn’t last more that a couple of minutes. Luckily, when it happens we can ‘google it’, (the power cut will effect the broadband therefore wifi is off, whoohoo for a smart phones that’s fully charged!).
What’s a power cut?
Your experience might be your PC died so you press the start button to restart it and stroll over to the kettle believing that’ll sort it out. ‘Strange’ – you notice the kettle isn’t coming on now. ‘Oh-wait’ -the penny has dropped. There’s been a power cut.
When you have no electricity from any wall-socket in a building that’s a power cut. It’s caused by bad weather, a fault or planned maintenance work gone wrong. Your Electricity Supplier would give you 28 days notice from receipt of your last bill before cutting your electricity supply off for a unpaid bill.
If something in another part of the building is still operating from the mains power then go and check your fuse box/circuit breakers. In which case something has caused these little safety mechanisms to trip, (in my house it’s a burnt out raisin in the toaster). This is not a power cut but try to find out what caused it to happen and try to prevent it in future.
Who do I call?
If you can tell that the same thing has happened to the neighbours- e.g. no lights on in their house when there should be, then it’s a problem that your Local Distribution Company (LDC) needs to know about. It is the LDC that is responsible for wires & cables that supply the electricity from the National Grid to your home, business or a public building. So you need to contact the LCD, originally known as DNO before privatisation, in your area. Switching a light on will give you a easy visible sign to know when power returns. Bear in mind the cordless phone won’t work so a mobile phone is necessary. The DNO will advise you on what to expect.
There is a map to help you determine who you need to call in your area, provided by the Energy Networks Association (ena) who are the trade organisation for your District Network Operator (DNO). View the map of the DNO’s on the ena website.
Telephone contact details
The following information will help you contact the right organisation in the event of a power cut in your area, there is a quick postcode look up here at the ena website:
| Area | Company | Emergency No. | Website | Twitter account |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Scotland | SSE Power Distribution | 0800 300 999 | www.ssepd.co.uk | @hydroPD |
| Central and Southern Scotland | SP Energy Networks | 0800 092 9290
(or 0330 1010 222 from a mobile phone) |
www.spenergynetworks.co.uk | @SPEnergyNetwork |
| North East England | Northern Powergrid | 0800 668 877 | www.northernpowergrid.com | @Northpowergrid |
| North West England | Electricity North West | 0800 195 4141 | www.enwl.co.uk | @ElectricityNW |
| Yorkshire | Northern Powergrid | 0800 375 675 | www.northernpowergrid.com | @Northpowergrid |
| Merseyside
Cheshire North Wales & North Shropshire |
SP Energy Networks | 0800 001 5400
(or 0330 1010 400 from a mobile phone) |
www.spenergynetworks.co.uk | @SPEnergyNetwork |
| East Midlands,
West Midlands, South Wales & South West England |
Western Power Distribution | 0800 6783 105 | www.westernpower.co.uk | @wpduk |
| Eastern England | UK Power Networks | 0800 783 8838
(or 0333 202 2021 from a mobile phone) |
www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk | @UKPowerNetworks |
| Southern England | SSE Power Distribution | 0800 072 7282 | www.ssepd.co.uk | @southernelecPD |
| London | UK Power Networks | 0800 028 0247
(or 0333 202 2022 from a mobile phone) |
www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk | @UKPowerNetworks |
| South East England | UK Power Networks | 0800 783 8866
(or 0333 202 2023 from a mobile phone) |
www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk | @UKPowerNetworks |
| Northern Ireland | Northern Ireland Electricity | 0345 764 3643 | www.nie.co.uk | @NIElectricity |
Fingers-crossed power cuts don’t inconvenience you too much but they are part of life.
This information is provided in good faith and produced using the best information available at the time it was compiled. We cannot guarantee the complete accuracy of this content and commercial decisions should not be based on it. Power Inspired accepts no responsibility or liability arising from the use of this information.