Household Emergency Plan Checklist for Power Cuts

A power cut is easier to get through when the thinking has already been done. The government's Be Ready campaign, launched on 22 October 2026, asks households to take a few simple steps so that disruption to power, water, phones and the internet does not turn into a crisis¹. The core of it is a written household plan: who you ring, where your trip switches are, who you check on, and what you have ready in the cupboard.

The advice is deliberately modest. Keep three days' worth of supplies², know how to report a cut on 105³, and agree in advance what you will do if the phone lines fail⁴. The Be Ready campaign is a three-year effort aimed particularly at families with young children and older people, the groups most at risk when everyday services stop¹.

This page is a checklist you can copy out and fill in. Work through it once, keep it somewhere you can find in the dark, and revisit it when a storm is forecast. Everything below is drawn from official UK guidance, with the nation named where arrangements differ.

Your household power cut plan checklist

Write the plan down and keep a copy where everyone can reach it. The items below are the ones official guidance returns to again and again.

1. Know where your fuses and trip switches are, so you can tell whether the problem is the wider network or just your own electrics⁸.
2. Know how to shut off your electricity and gas supply, in case of flooding or damage⁹.
3. Write down your emergency contacts: family or the people you live with, plus your insurance and utility providers¹⁰.
4. Keep your network operator's number to hand. All utilities run a 24-hour call line, and 105 is free and puts you through to your electricity network operator³.
5. Store three days' worth of supplies, including food, water and anything you would need if you had to leave home quickly².
6. Charge phones and power banks when a storm is forecast, and gather torches and batteries¹³.
7. Agree a backup plan with anyone who might need extra support, particularly if they live alone⁴.
8. Plan with your neighbours about who could assist you during an outage, for example someone who could drive you to get help¹⁵.
9. If you use medical equipment that needs power, make a plan now with your care provider or clinical team about what happens in a cut and who to contact⁷.
10. Sign up for the Priority Services Register if you need additional support during a power cut⁵.
11. Check your appliances against recall notices, and register new ones so you are told if a fault is found¹⁶.
12. Practise your fire escape route with everyone in the home, especially if you will be using candles¹⁸.

Why the plan matters, and what goes in it

The Welsh Government's resilience statement makes the case plainly: thinking through a basic household emergency plan can help reduce disruption when incidents occur¹⁹. A plan does not stop the power going off. It means that when it does, nobody is hunting for a torch, arguing about who to ring, or wondering whether the freezer food is still safe.

The Be Ready campaign frames the risk as ordinary rather than dramatic: severe weather can occasionally affect services including power, water, phones and the internet¹. That is the scenario to plan for, not a national emergency. The Met Office's WeatherReady advice is to make sure you have basic supplies in case you have to leave home quickly, or your power and water are disrupted¹².

A workable plan has four parts:

• Contacts. Your network operator, your supplier, your family, and anyone you would check on.
• The house. Where the trip switches are, where the stopcock and gas shut-off are, and how to check whether the fault is yours alone⁸.
• Supplies. Three days' worth, kept together and checked².
• People. Who you would visit, who would visit you, and what happens if the phones are down⁴.

Plan for neighbours and relatives who live alone

The single most useful thing in a household plan is often a name and a knock on the door. The Met Office advises looking out for elderly neighbours and making sure they are prepared for a possible power cut⁶, and fire services in northern England add checking on any elderly or vulnerable neighbours or relatives when the weather turns²¹.

Be Ready suggests agreeing a backup plan with anyone who might need extra support, particularly if they live alone. The example given is a simple one: if an outage happens and you cannot call, you or another trusted person they know will visit them in person⁴. That covers the case where the phone network is down, which is exactly when a call would have been most useful.

The checklist for checking on neighbours and relatives sets this out in more detail. In outline:

• Agree the trigger. Who visits whom, and after how long without power.
• Agree the route. If they cannot drive, who can get to them¹⁵.
• Share the plan. Ready Scotland suggests sharing clear, accurate information so others can prepare and get support quickly, whether by speaking to friends, family and neighbours or setting up a group for your street or building²².
• Know the support available. Checking eligibility for schemes such as the Priority Services Register is part of the same conversation¹⁹.

If the person you are worried about relies on electricity for medical equipment, the plan needs their care team in it. Official guidance is to make a plan with your care provider or clinical care teams now, setting out what action you or the person you care for needs to take and who to contact if there is a power outage⁷. The medical equipment checklist covers this in full.

Check your appliances against product recall notices

A power cut is a good moment to think about the appliances you will be switching back on. Manufacturers issue recall notices if an electrical appliance could develop a fault, including a risk of electric shock or fire²³. The London Fire Brigade's advice is blunt: the most important thing you can do is regularly check whether your appliances have been recalled, using the government's product recall site, the manufacturer's website or Electrical Safety First's recall register¹⁶.

There are two habits worth building:

• Register your appliances. Fire services recommend registering electrical appliances so you can be made aware if a product is recalled¹⁷, and the Register My Appliance service will notify you if a product gets recalled²⁴.
• Check the recall list. Electrical Safety First's website lists recalled items and explains what to do with your recalled appliance²³.

Fire and rescue services across the UK treat electrical faults as a leading cause of home fires. Fire Scotland points households to recall checks as part of its electrical safety advice²⁷, and the general principle holds everywhere: a recalled appliance should be unplugged and dealt with according to the manufacturer's instruction, not kept going through the winter.

Keep the plan current through winter storms

Plans go stale. Ready Scotland's storm guidance is to charge mobile phones and power banks in case there is a power cut, and to find your emergency plan and make sure it is up to date¹³. That is the routine: when a warning is issued, get the plan out and check it, rather than starting from scratch.

The Met Office issues warnings for all four nations, and its accessible warnings service sets out what each colour means so you can judge how seriously to take a forecast¹⁴. When a storm is coming:

• Charge everything. Phones, power banks and any torches that recharge¹³.
• Gather the kit. Torches, batteries, a mobile phone power pack and other essential items¹⁴.
• Check the plan. Confirm contact numbers and who is visiting whom¹³.
• Check on neighbours. Particularly older or vulnerable people²¹.

Ready Scotland also advises making a household emergency kit and an emergency plan before cold weather arrives²⁷, rather than in the middle of a freeze. Northern Ireland's guidance for strong winds and ice repeats the same preparation message⁸, and the Met Office's seasonal advice for power cuts is a useful single page to keep⁶.

Where to get help, and what to do first

If someone is in immediate danger, call 999⁴. For a power cut, call 105, which is free and puts you through to your electricity network operator³. You can also report the cut and track updates on your operator's website¹¹. In Northern Ireland, the NIE Networks Customer Helpline is 03457 643 643²⁰.

Beyond the emergency numbers, there is help for households that need it:

• The Priority Services Register tells your supplier you need additional support during a power cut⁷. The guide to the Priority Services Register explains who can join.
• Your local resilience forum coordinates the local response. Wiltshire and Swindon, for example, maintains a Widespread Utilities Plan and a Local and National Power Outage Plan, with each partner holding its own service plans¹¹.
• Your community. Ready Scotland encourages creating an instant messaging or social media group for your street or building, and encouraging others to make their own plan²².

The power cut kit checklist and the emergency numbers to keep at home are the two lists to print alongside this plan. Keep them together, and check them when the first winter warning arrives.