What to do in a power outage, step by step

Immediate checks

Look at your consumer unit. If a breaker has tripped, you can try resetting it once — but if it trips again straight away, leave it off and treat it as a fault rather than something to keep forcing.

• Is a circuit breaker or the main RCD switch in the "off" position?
• Do your neighbours still have power? If not, it's likely a supply issue, not yours.
• Is the outage total, or only some rooms/appliances?

Protect what's plugged in

Switch off or unplug sensitive electronics and anything that was running unattended (an oven, an iron) so they don't start unexpectedly the moment power returns. This matters whether the cause turns out to be a supply cut or a fault in your own wiring.

When to book, and how urgently

A total loss of power with neighbours unaffected, or any burning smell alongside the outage, is worth an emergency call-out. A partial loss — some circuits fine, others dead — is also usually worth prompt attention, since it points to a specific fault rather than something that'll resolve itself.