Is the power cut just my property or the local area?

The single most useful fact: call 105, free of charge, and you will be put through to your local electricity network operator, the company that owns the cables and wires in your area¹. Your energy supplier is not the organisation that fixes power cuts; the network operator is².

First checks: one property or the whole street?

Start with your own consumer unit. NIE Networks, which operates the network in Northern Ireland, tells customers to check the trip switch first, because that shows whether the problem is with the electrics in the property rather than the network⁵. The same operator notes that lightning often affects supplies to individual properties or small numbers of properties, so if the neighbours are not off, you may need to let the network know yourself⁶. The Met Office gives the same diagnostic: if your neighbours still have power but your home does not, it is likely there is a problem with the fuses or trip switches in your home⁷.

Then look outside. Street lights off, neighbouring houses dark and no lights in shop windows all point to a network fault affecting the area. Lights on next door point back indoors. Remember that in a cut your home's internet and landline will stop working, as will gas boilers, heating and electrical appliances, so a mobile phone is the reliable way to check and report⁸.

Confirming a local cut before you report it

Two checks confirm a network fault quickly. The first is powercut105.com, the official site for power cuts, where you can report a cut and see whether one is already known in your area³. The second is your local operator's own checker: NIE Networks, for example, offers a tool to check whether there is a power cut in your area⁹. The Energy Networks Association also publishes a postcode lookup listing the details for all the electricity distribution network operator companies, which tells you whose network you are on⁷.

If a cut is already listed, there is no need to report it again, though calling 105 does no harm. If nothing is listed and your trip switches are fine, report it: cuts are often caused by cables and equipment becoming damaged, and the operator cannot send a team to a fault it does not know about³.

Reporting the cut: who to call and how

The number to call is 105. It is free, and the service connects callers to their electricity network operator¹. Ofgem states that a customer with a power cut or connection issues in their area should contact their network operator, because the network operator is responsible for the pipes and wires that move energy². Age UK gives the same routing for complaints about power cuts or connection problems: the distribution network operator, the company in charge of the supply to the area¹⁰.

Do not call your electricity supplier. The supplier bills you; the network operator fixes the wires and pays compensation⁴. If you do not know who your operator is, 105 routes you correctly without you needing the name, and the postcode lookup settles it online⁷. UK Power Networks, for instance, is the network operator for London, the East and South East of England¹¹.

Duties of your distribution network operator when power fails

The network operator owns and maintains the local cables and must restore supplies within set limits. Under the Guaranteed Standards of Performance, the restoration limit is 12 hours for interruptions outside severe weather¹. In Northern Ireland, where planned emergency power cuts can be needed at times of generation shortfall, the aim is to notify customers via media and social media channels before a planned cut is undertaken¹².

During any cut, the practical advice from network operators is consistent: never touch damaged electricity equipment, check on vulnerable family and friends, keep the freezer door closed, turn off cookers, heaters and sensitive equipment, and leave a light on so you know when supply returns¹³. If you rely on medical equipment or need extra support, joining the Priority Services Register before a cut happens is the route to proactive contact from your operator.

Payments you can claim for extended or frequent supply interruptions

If a cut lasts longer than the standard allows, you can claim a payment. The rules sit under the Guaranteed Standards of Performance: the restoration limit is 12 hours outside severe weather, and for the repeated cuts payment each power cut must have lasted at least 3 hours¹. Electricity North West publishes information on compensation for customers who have experienced multiple power cuts¹⁴.

There are exclusions. You will not get compensation if more than 30,000 homes were affected, if you caused the cut off, or if the operator took reasonable steps to prevent a cut during bad weather⁴. Ofgem also lists blackouts caused by a national power shortage, damage to electrical equipment or appliances, and a low supply after a power cut as outside the scheme¹⁵. The repeated cuts payment is not available if you have already qualified for compensation from any power cuts in the same 12 months, and planned cuts you were told about do not count¹⁶.

One point that catches people out: spoiled food. You cannot make a specific claim for compensation if your refrigerated or frozen food spoils because of a power outage¹⁷. The payments cover the interruption, not the freezer contents. For the full rules, see power cut compensation and the Guaranteed Standards, and for Northern Ireland's separate scheme, power cut compensation in Northern Ireland.

Reasons your home may lose electricity while others nearby stay on

There are two very different explanations, and the neighbours' lights tell you which is more likely. The first is internal: a tripped switch or blown fuse in your own property, which the Met Office and NIE Networks both identify as the likely cause when the neighbours still have power⁷. The second is network design. Each property is connected through different circuits or phases of the same cable, so it is not uncommon for one house to have power while the next does not¹⁸. A fault on one phase can cut every third or fourth house on a street while the rest stay on.

A related case is the looped supply, where two properties share one incoming cable. Separating them requires extensive checks to both properties to understand who has the main supply, with work planned with both neighbours¹⁹. So a network fault does not always take out a whole street, and a single dark house is not always a wiring fault: the trip switch check comes first, then the report.

For what a cut means for your home's wider resilience, including which appliances stop working and how backup options compare, see backup power for UK homes.