Loss of essential services
Electricity, water, gas, phone, or internet outages can happen for many reasons including bad weather, accidents, or technical failures.
These events are usually over quickly with minimal impact, however longer outages could be disruptive and distressing.
Who is most at risk?
Utilities outages can affect anyone, but some people face a higher risk of being impacted by a loss of power, water, or phone.
Those most at risk include people who rely on water or electricity for medical equipment to function, people who rely on their landline to make phone calls, older adults, babies and young children, people with long-term health conditions
Remember: If you smell gas open doors and windows, leave the area and call National Gas Emergency Line on 0800 111 999.
What you can do before, during and after
Before
Prepare now to reduce the risk.
- Know who provides your electricity, water, gas, phone and internet and keep their contact details on hand.
- Contact your water and power suppliers to see if you’re eligible to be put on Priority Services Registers.
- Make a list of emergency numbers you might need, for example, family, friends, your local council, and your GP.
- Have backup power sources, like a battery-powered torch or a windup radio.
- Store essentials at home like bottled water, canned food, and basic medical supplies.
- Keep your phone charged and consider getting a portable charger pack.
- Have a grab bag prepared with essential items like clothing and medicines in case you need to leave the house in an emergency.
During
Stay safe and take action.
- Report outages to your service providers right away.
- If the power is out, use a battery-powered or wind-up radio to find out when it will come back on.
- To save battery life on your phone only use it when necessary.
- Use torches or battery-powered lights instead of candles which can be a fire risk.
- Follow safety instructions from your service providers or local authorities
After
Recover safely and return to normal.
- Check with your service providers for updates and to find out when services will be fully restored.
- If needed make sure qualified professionals handle any repairs or inspections.
- Restock any supplies.
- Report any damage or problems caused by the outage to the relevant authorities or providers.
Quick links
In an emergency
Call 999 immediately
Get out, stay out