Live Power Cuts
If your power is off right now, call 105
105 is free from any phone, works anywhere in England, Scotland and Wales, and connects you to the company that runs the wires in your area — whoever you buy your electricity from. That is the fastest route to a report and to an estimate of when supply comes back. This page is for checking whether a cut is already known about, not for reporting one.
If you see a fallen power line, treat it as live, stay at least 10 metres away and call 105. If it poses an immediate danger to the public, call 999. Read the network safety guidance.
Which networks this page can see
Great Britain is divided between six distribution network operators, and they publish their live fault data on very different terms. This page carries the 6 that publish under a licence permitting reuse and are being read right now: Electricity North West, National Grid Electricity Distribution, Northern Powergrid, SP Energy Networks, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and UK Power Networks. That is a real limit, not a formality, and it is stated before any incident list rather than after it.
Scottish Power Energy Networks was described here as having blocked every automated request. That was true of its corporate website and false of the company: its open data portal publishes a live outage feed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, and it was found on 7 August 2026 by looking somewhere else. Most of SPEN’s other datasets are under an industry licence that forbids republication outright, so “SPEN says no” had looked like a settled answer. It was a settled answer to a different question.
Northern Powergrid and Electricity North West were the last two missing, and both were added on 8 August 2026 — so every one of the six operators is now registered here. Northern Powergrid publishes under its own open data licence, which permits this and asks to be credited in a particular form; its feed needs no key at all.
Electricity North West was described here as publishing its feed under the industry licence that does not permit reuse. That was true of one of its datasets and not of the company: its National Energy Outage feed is indeed under that licence and refuses us even with a key, but it publishes a separate live incidents feed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, and 96 of its 146 datasets are on those terms. One dataset saying no is a fact about that dataset. Where a network is missing, the honest statement is that we cannot see it — and where the reason is us rather than the publisher, that is worth saying too.
Electricity North West publishes no postcode with its incidents, only the location of the switch that tripped. So its faults appear in the full list and cannot be found by searching an area. That is stated beside the search rather than left for an empty result to imply, because “nothing found for your postcode” and “this network cannot be searched by postcode” read identically and mean opposite things.
National Grid’s feed was held back until 6 August 2026 on the basis that it carried no licence. It does: the data portal records it in a field the earlier check did not read, under National Grid’s former name for the business. The licence permits reuse, so the feed is now included — which is worth saying plainly, because “no licence” and “a licence nobody found” are different things and only one of them is the publisher’s doing.
Networks covered
Which networks this page can see
Electricity North West
Electricity North West licence area: the North West of England, from rural Cumbria to urban Manchester · about 2,400,000 connections
Feed last checked 20 Sept, 21:56
National Grid Electricity Distribution
National Grid Electricity Distribution licence areas: East Midlands, West Midlands, South West and South Wales · about 7,900,000 connections
Feed last checked 20 Sept, 21:56
Northern Powergrid
Northern Powergrid licence areas: the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire · about 3,900,000 connections
Feed last checked 20 Sept, 21:56
SP Energy Networks
Central and southern Scotland, Merseyside, Cheshire, North Shropshire and North Wales (SP Distribution and SP Manweb licence areas) · about 3,500,000 connections
Feed last checked 20 Sept, 21:56
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks
North of Scotland and central southern England (SSEN licence areas) · about 3,900,000 connections
Feed last checked 20 Sept, 21:56
UK Power Networks
London, South East and East of England (UKPN licence areas) · about 8,500,000 connections
Feed last checked 20 Sept, 21:56
Live incidents are shown for Electricity North West, National Grid Electricity Distribution, Northern Powergrid, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, SP Energy Networks and UK Power Networks only, together about 30.1 million of roughly 30.1 million connections across all Great Britain's network operators. If your network is not listed, this page cannot tell you whether there is a power cut in your area - it is not saying there is none.
That is roughly 100% of Great Britain’s electricity connections. The other networks either publish no reusable licence or have not been integrated yet.
Open incidents across all 6 networks
40 open
S11, S6 · planned work
Started 20 Sept, 22:00 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 23:00
Northern Powergrid · Northern calls this “HV_N” · reference PPCR79637 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
S11 · planned work
Started 20 Sept, 22:00 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 02:00
Northern Powergrid · Northern calls this “HV_N” · reference PPCR79441 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
SL4
Started 20 Sept, 21:35 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 03:30 · about 6 properties
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks · Scottish calls this “LV” · reference TZ8983 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
SS12, SS13, SS14
Started 20 Sept, 21:03 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 23:00 · about 46 properties
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-633020-Z · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
CV47
Started 20 Sept, 20:27 · no restoration estimate published · about 18 properties
National Grid Electricity Distribution · National calls this “LV” · reference INCD-13453-n · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
Area not published
Started 20 Sept, 20:02 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 22:15 · about 48 properties
Electricity North West · Electricity calls this “High Voltage Fault” · reference INC 149002352 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
CT3
Started 20 Sept, 19:25 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 01:00 · about 7 properties
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-105814-V · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
AL1
Started 20 Sept, 19:24 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 23:30
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-633011-Z · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
PE28
Started 20 Sept, 18:43 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 23:30 · about 21 properties
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-633009-Z · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
DG6, DG7
Started 20 Sept, 18:25 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 00:00
SP Energy Networks · SP calls this “HV” · reference INCD-2506400-i · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:26
CW10
Started 20 Sept, 18:22 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 02:20
SP Energy Networks · SP calls this “LV” · reference INCD-2506394-i · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:26
HP22
Started 20 Sept, 18:16 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 00:30
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-633000-Z · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
ST7
Started 20 Sept, 17:45 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 03:00
SP Energy Networks · SP calls this “LV” · reference INCD-2506388-i · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:26
LS28
Started 20 Sept, 17:36 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 23:59
Northern Powergrid · Northern calls this “LV” · reference INCD-816029-A · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
Area not published
Started 20 Sept, 17:33 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 23:45 · about 26 properties
Electricity North West · Electricity calls this “Underground Main” · reference INC 149002327 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
BH16
Started 20 Sept, 17:15 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 07:00 · about 14 properties
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks · Scottish calls this “LV” · reference TZ8887 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
CT20
Started 20 Sept, 17:10 · no restoration estimate published · about 103 properties
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-461595-G · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
HP22
Started 20 Sept, 16:29 · no restoration estimate published
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-632984-Z · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
LE18
Started 20 Sept, 15:38 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 02:00 · about 20 properties
National Grid Electricity Distribution · National calls this “LV” · reference INCD-13437-n · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
BN25
Started 20 Sept, 15:26 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 00:30 · about 87 properties
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-461582-G · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
PE2
Started 20 Sept, 15:13 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 04:00 · about 20 properties
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-632977-Z · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
BN1, BN45, BN5, BN6
Started 20 Sept, 15:06 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 22:30 · about 5 properties
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-461580-G · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
YO13, YO17, YO18
Started 20 Sept, 13:20 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 22:00
Northern Powergrid · Northern calls this “HV_N” · reference INCD-815985-A · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
NG5
Started 20 Sept, 13:18 · no restoration estimate published
National Grid Electricity Distribution · National calls this “LV” · reference INCD-13432-n · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
CM16
Started 20 Sept, 11:09 · no restoration estimate published · about 3 properties
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-23742-I · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
DE45
Started 20 Sept, 11:02 · estimated back by 21 Sept, 00:00 · about 12 properties
National Grid Electricity Distribution · National calls this “LV” · reference INCD-13423-n · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
LN3
Started 20 Sept, 09:43 · no restoration estimate published · about 1 property
National Grid Electricity Distribution · National calls this “HV” · reference INCD-13409-n · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
BS37
Started 20 Sept, 09:12 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 23:00 · about 25 properties
National Grid Electricity Distribution · National calls this “LV” · reference INCD-364748-f · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
RG18
Started 19 Sept, 18:22 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 23:59 · about 1 property
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks · Scottish calls this “HV” · reference TZ8254 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
Area not published
Started 19 Sept, 13:26 · estimated back by 20 Sept, 21:00 · about 10 properties
Electricity North West · Electricity calls this “Underground Main” · reference INC 149002018 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
DN14
Started 18 Sept, 11:42 · no restoration estimate published
Northern Powergrid · Northern calls this “LV” · reference INCD-815493-A · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
Area not published
Started 18 Sept, 10:33 · estimated back by 18 Sept, 16:15 · about 1 property
Electricity North West · Electricity calls this “Underground Main” · reference INC 261000140 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
RH20
Started 18 Sept, 08:44 · no restoration estimate published
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-461379-G · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
SO24 · planned work
Started 1 Sept, 08:00 · estimated back by 23 Oct, 16:00 · about 1 property
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks · Scottish calls this “PSI” · reference 254566 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
IP21
Started 18 Aug, 12:48 · no restoration estimate published
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Unplanned” · reference INCD-625832-Z · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
GL12
Started 30 Jul, 15:26 · no restoration estimate published · about 2 properties
National Grid Electricity Distribution · National calls this “HV” · reference INCD-70670-m · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
Area not published
Start time not published · no restoration estimate published
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Multiple” · reference MULT-a72f85ba-ea41-4741-99cb-4b46e9aea4c2 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
Area not published
Start time not published · no restoration estimate published
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Multiple” · reference MULT-3dfe7e52-f987-448f-881f-c914465c6aa1 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
Area not published
Start time not published · no restoration estimate published
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Multiple” · reference MULT-d8f0e728-71ca-435b-abdb-e517f6bd0ff2 · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
Area not published
Start time not published · no restoration estimate published
UK Power Networks · UK calls this “Multiple” · reference MULT-6046a91c-395f-47b2-9f71-757404366c4a · retrieved 20 Sept, 21:56
Time from published start to restoration
Time between the start and restoration timestamps published for unplanned power cuts on each operator's live feed. Incidents treated as restored only because they disappeared from a feed are excluded. Not the regulatory measure: Ofgem's audited Customer Interruptions and Customer Minutes Lost are annual, customer-weighted and published separately.
| Network | Typical | Slowest 10% | Restorations seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| SP Energy Networks22 Apr, 19:47 to 20 Sept, 17:34 | 2.8 hours | over 9.7 hours | 1,505 |
| UK Power Networks27 Jul, 09:30 to 20 Sept, 21:49 | 3.0 hours | over 24 hours | 4,176 |
Each network is shown over its own period because they are not the same period, so these are not a league table. For the audited, customer-weighted annual measure see network reliability.
Areas are shown as outward codes — the first half of a postcode. The networks publish either full postcodes or postcode sectors; this site reduces them all to the outward code before storing anything, so no incident here points at a particular home. Where a network publishes a map of the properties affected, that map is not stored either. In an emergency, or if your network is not covered, call 105. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0, NGED Open Data Licence and Northern Powergrid Open Data Licence v1.0.
Your supplier cannot fix a power cut
This is the single most common confusion in a power cut, and it costs people time when they are already in the dark. The company that bills you buys electricity and sends invoices. It does not own a single cable between the substation and your meter. Restoring supply is the distribution network operator’s job, and it is decided by geography, not by who you switched to.
You cannot choose your network operator and switching supplier will never change who turns up. Our network reliability figures show how often each of the fourteen licence areas loses supply and for how long, against the target Ofgem set it.
When you are owed compensation
Under Ofgem’s guaranteed standards, a network operator must pay you if supply is off for long enough. The thresholds depend on whether the cut was normal or the result of severe weather, and on how many properties went off at once, so the figures on this page are a starting point rather than a claim.
Planned interruptions are treated differently: if the network gave you proper notice, no payment is due. That is why planned work is labelled as such above, rather than counted in with faults.
Frequently asked questions
My postcode area shows nothing. Does that mean my power is fine?
Not necessarily. Great Britain is divided between six distribution network operators and this page carries live feeds only from those that publish under a licence permitting reuse. The list of networks it can see, and the share of Great Britain’s connections they add up to, is shown above and comes from the feeds themselves rather than from this sentence. If your network is not one of them, an empty list means we cannot see your area, not that there is no power cut. Call 105 free from any phone and you will be put through to whoever runs the wires where you are.
Why do you show a postcode area rather than a full postcode?
The networks publish either the full postcodes affected by each fault or the postcode sectors. Combined with a fault location, that is enough to point at a handful of specific homes, so we reduce every one of them to its outward code — the first half — before storing anything. One network also publishes a map outline of the properties that lost supply; we do not store that either. Nothing on this page identifies a particular property.
Why does the number of incidents not match the network’s own map?
The feeds include incidents that have already been restored — usually most of them. UK Power Networks mixes that status into the same field it uses for the type of fault, and the shared National Energy Outage feeds carry finished incidents for days. We count only incidents that are genuinely open, so our number is usually well below the raw feed length. Each incident also shows when we last read the feed.
Do you show planned power cuts as well?
Yes, and they are labelled as planned work. A planned interruption is one the network told you about in advance, usually for maintenance; it is not a fault, and no compensation is due for one carried out with proper notice.
Related reading
Written by
Rob Gibbs
Hi, I'm Rob, and I run Energy-Review.co.uk. I initially started this project in 2018 when I was looking to switch energy suppliers and found there wasn't a website that provided simple, data-backed reviews on all the suppliers available. Since then, I have spent a lot of time (too much, some may say!) looking at all publicly available data about each supplier and writing reviews using this information. These reviews are updated as regularly as possible, and any data is backed up by a source where necessary. I have also started writing guides on various energy-related topics, which hopefully you will find useful. If you find any issues, please use our contact form to let us know.