Power cut: £100 paid automatically, up to £2,235 in a storm — what you are owed and what to do if the money never arrives

First, the thing almost everyone gets wrong: a power cut is not your energy supplier's responsibility. It belongs to the network operator — the company that maintains the wires, cables and pipes in your area. You pay the supplier for units; the network operator restores the supply and pays the compensation. Which is why the number you call in an outage is not your supplier's.

The free number across Great Britain is 105: it puts you through to your electricity network operator. You can also report the cut on their website. You can find your electricity operator on the Energy Networks Association website, and your gas operator on the Meter Point Administration Service site. One exception: if the supply is off because of a faulty meter, that is the supplier's job.

How quickly supply must be restored

The standards are set in law and apply in England, Scotland and Wales: 12 hours outside severe weather, 24 hours in a severe storm category 1, 48 hours in a severe storm category 2. The exact deadline also depends on how many homes and businesses are affected.

Ofgem's storm categories are its own and do not match the Met Office ones. Category 1 means unusually bad weather, including lightning, causing at least 8 to 13 times more faults than normal. Category 2 means very severe weather causing at least 13 times more faults. A windy night does not by itself make an outage a storm event.

What a normal power cut pays

The base payment is £100 for homes and £195 for businesses. It applies if fewer than 5,000 properties are affected for more than 12 hours, or more than 5,000 properties are affected for more than 24 hours.

After that you get £45 for every additional 12-hour period without electricity. Ofgem's own examples: a cut past the 12-hour threshold lasting 36 hours earns two further £45 payments, £90 on top; past the 24-hour threshold and lasting 72 hours, four further payments, £180 on top.

The maximum under this heading is £400 where the cut affects 5,000 or more properties.

ADV · A003We build websites for tradespeople and sole traders — £219Customers see your work and prices and message you straight away. Ready in 3 days, £219 instead of £438.Advertise here

More than four cuts in a year: another £100

This is the payment people are least likely to know about. If your power has gone off more than four times between 1 April and 31 March, with each cut lasting at least three hours, you can get an extra £100. It applies to homes and businesses.

One crucial difference: this one is not automatic — you have to claim it from your network operator, who decides whether it is due. So short but frequent outages are worth logging: date, time it started, time the power came back.

Storms: up to £2,235

In severe weather the scheme changes and counts in six-hour blocks. For storm category 1 you can get £90 for the first 24 hours and a further £45 for every 6 hours after. For category 2 it is the same £90, but for the first 48 hours, then again £45 for every 6 hours. This applies to homes and businesses alike.

The maximum for both categories is £2,235.

Gas

Your gas network operator must give you 7 working days' notice of planned maintenance. If they do not, £40 is added to what you are owed.

For homes: a planned gas interruption pays £50; for an unplanned one you can claim £70 extra for every additional 24 hours your gas is off, rising with the length of the outage. For businesses, planned and unplanned alike pay £120.

What is not covered

There is no payment for blackouts caused by a national power shortage, for damage to electrical equipment and appliances, or for a low supply after a power cut. A ruined fridge or a dead router is not a matter for the network operator but for your contents insurance.

How the money arrives — and what if it does not

In most cases you do not need to make a claim: the network operator pays automatically if it has your bank details. Payment can come by cheque, cash or bank transfer. Sometimes it is routed through your energy supplier, in which case it is credited to your energy account or prepayment meter.

The sequence is: the operator first fixes the fault and gets everyone back on supply, then arranges payments. If a few months have passed and nothing has arrived, contact the network operator directly. Ofgem states plainly that if the payment was missed, they may owe you a further £40.

If you get no answer, or an answer you do not accept, it becomes an ordinary complaint and then a matter for the ombudsman — we set out how that works in our guide to complaints and ombudsmen.

The Priority Services Register: help, not cash

It is worth signing up to the Priority Services Register if there is an older person, young children, someone disabled or someone with electrically powered medical equipment in the household. For planned and unplanned cuts alike, network operators must offer these customers extra help — for example battery packs so a phone or medical device can be charged. What each company offers differs. There are no extra payments for being on the register: this is practical help, not money. Registration is free, through your supplier or network operator.

The amounts change every year

Ofgem reviews the payment levels annually in line with inflation, publishing the current figures in its Guaranteed Standards of Performance update for the year. The amounts here are those in force in autumn 2026.

Why this is worth knowing now

On 2 October the government set out its winter preparations and named the reason: a strong El Nino makes wetter, stormier conditions more likely in late autumn and early winter. More than 600 flood defence projects are under way in England, with £1.4 billion invested in 2026/27; £2.6 billion is going through Network Rail to climate-proof the railway and more than £24 billion into local road maintenance over four years. Network operators are out doing preventive work now — clearing branches away from lines and moving engineers into at-risk areas.

The government also cites last winter's figure: after Storm Amy, 99% of electricity customers were reconnected within 24 hours. The Cabinet Office says a public campaign on simple household steps for emergencies will launch later this autumn.

The practical takeaway is modest: keep 105 and a torch with a power bank to hand, note the start and end time of every outage, and if your power was off for a long stretch or went off repeatedly, check whether the money arrived. While you are at it, check whether you qualify for winter bill support: Warm Home Discount and Winter Fuel Payment.