Interruptions to your supply

We aim to provide a safe and reliable electricity supply to all our customers, but occasionally things do go wrong.

We are not always aware that your supply has been interrupted.  In these circumstances we rely on you to call our emergency loss of supply centre.  This will help us restore the supply as quickly as possible.  (The centre is open 24 hours a day 365 days a year.)

NEDL    0800 668877

YEDL    0800 375675

When you call we will ask you for some basic information in order to locate your property, such as your name, postcode, house number and a contact telephone number.  We will ask what time the supply went off and whether it is affecting your neighbours.  When trying to determine the cause of the interruption we may ask you to check your trip switch and to look at the display on your meter.

Please contact the free emergency numbers to report any problems to us.  We aim to provide you with accurate and useful information on likely restoration times for interruptions.  If we cannot provide you with the information at the point of your initial call we always endeavour to call you back to give you the information you require.  If we are aware of the loss in supply we may activate our voice messaging system.  This provides information to any customer calling from the affected area (so long as they call on a land line:  the system cannot detect the location of a mobile phone.)  The message is updated as soon as an estimated restoration time is known.  Should you hear a message that does not relate to your area or if you have seen or heard anything that may assist our engineers, you will be able to speak to a customer service advisor.

Steps to take should you lose your supply unexpectedly:

• Check your trip switch:
  • If your trip switch is in the off position, try to move it back to the on position.  If this works, your power should come on.  If this does not work and the trip moves back to the off position, this would indicate that the fault may be with one of your appliances or house wiring circuits.
    To double check this, switch the trip off and unplug all appliances.  Then try moving the trip switch back to the on position.  If it moves back to the off position, check your internal wiring circuits.
    If the trip stays on, plug in and switch on your appliances one at a time.  If the trip switch activates again with a particular appliance, then that's the appliance that is probably faulty.
  • If your fuses are working and the trip is in the on position, check if it's just your property without supply or whether your neighbours are affected too.  If not it may be an internal fault.
• If you have a pre-payment meter, is it in need of credit?
• If the problem is affecting your neighbours and/or street lamps, contact us on the emergency number for your area.  Don't assume we already know you have lost your supply.
• It is possible that a problem on our network may just affect your house and not your neighbours.  But if it turns out that the problem was an internal fault on your circuits, we shall need to charge you for the visit.  We will tell you of any possible charges we may impose if the fault is found to be internal.

If you have a battery-operated radio, listen to the local radio station as we always endeavour to keep them informed of electricity problems - especially during times of severe weather, when we will also keep your supplier informed.

Should your power go off without warning, don't leave candles or heaters unattended.  Place them where you won't knock them over.  A torch may be a safer altenative, but keep the batteries renewed.

Pre-arranged Interruptions

Sometimes we have to interrupt the electricity supply to carry out maintenance on our network.  We aim to write and inform all our customers who may be affected by a planned interruption to the electricity supply at least two days in advance.

If you require any further information about a specific planned interruption, please contact us using the telephone number at the top of the notification letter advising of the interruption.

If you depend on electricity for special medical equipment (e.g. kidney dialysis or oxygen concentrators), please feel free to contact us to discuss your needs on 0800 1697602.

Possible causes for loss of supply

Weather-related problems may cause damage to our distribution network and can cause interruptions to your supply.  Some may be of a short duration, which can cause sensitive timers on electronic appliances to flash.  Some interruptions may be of a longer duration when there is major damage caused to our equipment, for example, if it is struck by lightning.

We recognise that short term supply interruptions are very annoying and can cause particular problems to some customers.  These occur during lightning storms or high winds, when trees and other wind-borne debris come into contact with our lines.  In order to minimise the interruption time we have installed equipment to switch off the supply for a few seconds and then automatically reset it.   This minimises the amount of damage caused and avoids the prospect of a major failure.

We work continuously to reduce the number of supply interruptions.  For example, we have a vegetation management department that programmes work to trim trees that might affect the overhead line network.

Our network can also be affected and damaged by third parties, such as contractors, vandals and thieves.

We are keen to ensure the reliability of supply to our customers and are currently investing around £220 million a year on improving and developing our electricity network.  This includes a rolling programme of strengthening and refurbishment to the whole of our distribution system.  This demonstrates a clear and significant commitment to our customers.

Whatever the cause, come wind, rain, lightning and snow we aim to keep the supply on.  Whatever the cause may be, should your supply be affected we will make every effort possible to restore your supply as quickly as possible.