What to do during a power cut

Your grandparents may think power outages "build character." And anyone who lived through the 70s, when the oil crisis, faulty infrastructure and industrial action regularly plunged Britain into darkness, may have dimly-lit and often fond memories of huddling around candles and paraffin lamps during rolling blackouts.

Since that decade, power cuts in the UK have been rare and mostly related to extreme weather events. But they still happen every now and then.

So if your lights suddenly flicker out and your TV shuts off, follow these steps to safely handle and report a power cut:

Is it just me or...?

First ensure it's actually a power cut and not a fault in your own wiring or supply. Are the street lights on outside? Are your neighbours' homes lit up? If so, it's probably not a power outage. You should check your fuse box to see if it's tripped. And if you have pre-payment meter, check to see if you've simply run out of credit before you dig out all the torches and light a fire in your hearth.

Contact the network distributor for your area

Your first instinct might be able to contact your energy supplier-you know, the one you carefully selected bycomparing energy tariffs and pay oodles of money to every month. But they don't have control over electricity infrastructure. They simply feed enough kilowatt hours into the grid to offset your use every year.

Instead, you need to contact your local electricity Distribution Network Operator (DNO). Dialling 105, either from a mobile or landline (corded phones will still work) will connect you the network distributor in your area so you can report the outage. The DNO can then send out someone to investigate the issue and determine the extent of the outage.

Consult the following list for information about your local DNO, including its individual emergency contact number:

Stay safe

While a brief power outage is unlikely to cause social anarchy worthy of a zombie film, you should take a few steps to ensure your safety when the lights are out.

Prepare in advance

Of course, it's best to prepare for a descent into darkness before it happens. Take the following precautions to ensure you're as equipped for a potential outage as possible.