Power cut: how to check, report and prepare

Is it the grid, or only your home?

The simplest way to tell is to ask a neighbour or someone nearby whether they have power.

On the service page here for your electricity company, you can see what visitors have reported during the last 24 hours. The page also shows the status of the company's official website—whether it is answering requests. When your electricity company publishes its own status page, a link to it appears on the service page.

• Ask a neighbour, then check the official sources.

What to do right away

Read what your electricity company publishes on its official website and status page. Search for any alerts or notifications that name your area.

On this site, you can report the outage using the button on the service page. You will find an hour-by-hour bar chart for the past day and a map of where reports were sent from. Compare them with what the company itself says.

• Report here and check the company's official updates about your area.

Who can confirm a power cut, and how to reach them

Your electricity company is the official source. On its service page here, we link to the company's official status page when it exists. We also link to its help and contact pages. Reports on this site come only from visitors and are not official. The report button is a way to add your own observation next to the others, not a way to reach the electricity company.

• Rely on the company's official pages, which are linked from the service page.

Examples of official advice

The two examples below come from different countries. They show what public bodies publish; they are not rules for where you live, so look for the equivalent advice from your own electricity company and authorities.

In Ireland, ESB Networks says that you can report power outages to it and find information on being ready for a power cut. It also reminds the public to stay safe and keep clear of its electricity infrastructure.

In Canada, the federal Get Prepared pages tell households to learn the risks where they live, draw up an emergency plan for the household, and put together a kit. They explain that a plan helps you act quickly, stay in touch and feel less stressed, and that a kit means you have what you need and can find it fast.

• Look for the equivalent advice from your own electricity company and authorities.