Power Cut at Home What to Do Step by Step in Arundel

Published October 2026 | Power cut at home what to do step by step

This guide covers exactly what to do when your home loses power - from the first checks at your consumer unit all the way through to identifying whether you need a qualified electrician. It's written for homeowners in Arundel and the wider West Sussex area who want a clear, practical process rather than vague reassurance.

Before You Start - Safety First

A power cut can feel alarming, but in most cases the cause is minor and the fix is well within reach of any careful homeowner. That said, electricity is unforgiving when handled carelessly, so there are a few non-negotiable rules before you touch anything.

Never assume the power is off just because your lights are out. If you have a partial power cut - where some circuits work and others don't - live voltage may still be present throughout the property. Do not touch exposed wiring, open junction boxes, or attempt to fix anything inside your consumer unit beyond resetting a tripped switch. If you can smell burning, hear crackling, or see scorch marks near any outlet or fitting, do not investigate further - leave the property and call an emergency electrician immediately.

Keep children and pets away from the area around your fuse board. If the power cut happened during a storm or after flooding, treat all electrical fittings as potentially live until a professional confirms otherwise.

What You Will Need

You won't need many tools for the initial checks. Most of the diagnosis is visual and systematic.

• A torch or a phone with a good battery - charge it now if you haven't already
• The address and phone number of your electricity supplier
• The Voltrade GoFIX app on your phone, which can help you log and track what's happening with your electrical system
• A note of any appliances that were running when the power went off
• Access to your consumer unit, typically located in a hallway, under the stairs, or in a utility room

Time estimate: The initial checks typically take between 5 and 20 minutes. If the problem is a tripped circuit breaker, you could have power restored in under 5 minutes. If it's a supply fault with your network operator, you may be waiting several hours.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Check Whether Your Neighbours Have Power

Before you do anything else, look out of the window or step outside briefly. If the street lights are off or your neighbours' homes are dark, you're almost certainly dealing with a network-level power cut rather than a fault inside your home. This is important because it changes what you do next entirely.

In Arundel, as in the rest of West Sussex, the local electricity network is managed by UK Power Networks. You can check for live incidents on their website or call their 24-hour helpline on 105 to report and track outages. Keeping a torch handy, charging your phone, and knowing where to find updates can make a power cut significantly easier to manage. If it's a network fault, there's nothing to do inside your home - just wait for the update.

Step 2: Locate Your Consumer Unit and Inspect the Switches

If your neighbours have power, the fault is almost certainly inside your property. Head to your consumer unit - the grey or white box containing your circuit breakers and RCD (residual current device). Use your torch so you're not working in the dark.

Open the cover and look at the rows of switches. In a modern consumer unit, you'll typically see one or two large RCD switches at the top and a row of smaller individual circuit breakers below. Check whether any of them have flipped to the "off" or middle position. A tripped RCD will usually sit visibly lower than the switches that are still on.

Step 3: Work Out Whether an RCD or a Circuit Breaker Has Tripped

There's an important difference between a tripped circuit breaker and a tripped RCD, and it affects how you respond.

A circuit breaker trip typically affects one circuit - for example, just your kitchen sockets or just your upstairs lighting ring. An RCD trip is broader, cutting power to everything on that half of your consumer unit at once. If you've lost power to a large portion of the house all at the same time, an RCD trip is the most likely cause. If it's a specific room or a specific type of outlet, a single circuit breaker is more likely.

Step 4: Unplug Appliances Before You Reset Anything

This is one of the most common steps our engineers see homeowners skip - and it's why so many people end up calling us after the breaker trips again immediately. Before you attempt to reset a tripped switch, unplug everything connected to the affected circuit. This includes kettles, washing machines, phone chargers, lamps, televisions - anything drawing power from that circuit.

The reason: if a faulty appliance caused the trip in the first place, resetting the breaker with it still plugged in will simply cause it to trip again, sometimes within seconds. Unplugging first lets you isolate whether the fault is in the fixed wiring or in a specific appliance.

Step 5: Reset the Tripped Switch

With appliances unplugged, try pushing the tripped switch firmly back to the "on" position. On most modern consumer units, this requires a definite click. If it holds, the circuit is back. Gradually plug your appliances back in one at a time, waiting a few seconds between each one. When the breaker trips again, you've found your faulty appliance.

If the switch won't hold, or immediately trips again with nothing plugged in at all, the fault is in the wiring itself - not an appliance - and you need a qualified electrician to investigate.

Step 6: Test Each Appliance Individually

Once you've identified which appliance caused the trip, don't simply throw it away or ignore it without testing. Common offenders include washing machines (particularly older Hotpoint, Beko, or Indesit models with failing motor windings), electric cookers, tumble dryers, and extension leads that have been overloaded over time.

Try plugging the suspect appliance into a different circuit - for example, if it tripped the kitchen ring, try the living room sockets. If it trips that circuit too, the appliance is faulty and needs professional repair or replacement. If it runs fine on the other circuit, the original circuit may have an underlying issue worth getting checked.

Step 7: Document What You Found

Before you call anyone, take a photo of your consumer unit with the switches visible, and make a note of exactly what was running when the power went off. This information is very useful to a qualified electrician and can save time during a callout. The Voltrade GoFIX diagnostic tool lets you log this kind of detail directly, so it's ready to share the moment you book an engineer.

What to Do If This Does Not Fix It

If you've worked through all the steps above and the power is still off - or keeps tripping - there are a few more things worth checking before you call for help.

First, check your electricity meter. Prepayment meters will cut supply automatically if credit runs out, and this looks exactly like a standard power cut. If you have a prepayment meter, check the display for a low credit or emergency credit warning before doing anything else.

Second, confirm whether your supplier has any planned or unplanned outages affecting Arundel. Planned maintenance work can cause outages that last several hours, and these are sometimes not communicated directly to individual households in advance.

Third, if the issue is recurring - where your RCD or circuit breakers trip regularly without an obvious cause - this points to a deeper problem. Deteriorating cable insulation, a failing component inside the consumer unit, or a persistent earth leakage fault from a hidden source are all possibilities. None of these can be diagnosed safely without specialist test equipment.

When to Stop and Call a Professional

There are clear lines you should not cross as a homeowner. Call a qualified electrician without delay if any of the following apply:

• You can smell burning plastic or a hot, acrid smell from anywhere near your consumer unit or sockets
• You can see scorch marks, discolouration, or melting around any fitting or socket
• The circuit breaker or RCD won't reset at all, even with everything unplugged
• Your lights are flickering or dimming in a way that's new or has started recently
• You've had flooding or water ingress near any electrical fitting
• The power cut followed a loud bang or a flash from a socket or appliance

Power outages related to electrical faults can be either planned or unplanned, but in either case, a professional inspection is the only safe route when the underlying cause isn't clear.

In Arundel, emergency electrician callouts typically cost between 100 and 200 pounds for the first hour, with rates varying depending on the time of day and whether it's a weekend or bank holiday. Diagnosing and fixing a simple tripped circuit caused by a faulty appliance is usually resolved in a single visit. Replacing or reconfiguring a faulty circuit is a larger job and can cost between 150 and 400 pounds depending on the circuit's length and how accessible the cable runs are. Local West Sussex electricians with 24/7 emergency cover are available for urgent callouts across the Arundel area.

All electrical work beyond basic switch resets should be carried out by a Part P registered electrician. In the UK, any work on new circuits, consumer unit replacements, or work in kitchens and bathrooms is notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations, and only qualified tradespeople can self-certify this work legally. Always ask to see a contractor's registration - whether with NICEIC, NAPIT, or the Electrical Competent Person scheme - before any work begins.

Questions About This Process

How long does a power cut typically last in Arundel?

Network-level power cuts in the Arundel area - caused by faults on UK Power Networks' infrastructure - commonly last between one and four hours. More significant faults involving underground cable damage can take considerably longer to resolve, particularly in rural parts of West Sussex. If your power is out and your neighbours are affected too, you can register with UK Power Networks to receive text updates on the expected restoration time.

Is it safe to reset a tripped circuit breaker myself?

Yes, resetting a tripped circuit breaker is safe to do yourself, provided you unplug all appliances on that circuit first. The risk isn't in touching the switch itself - it's in resetting it while a faulty appliance is still connected, which will typically cause it to trip again immediately, or in rare cases cause further damage. If a breaker won't hold after you've unplugged everything on the circuit, stop trying and call an electrician to investigate the wiring.

What causes an RCD to keep tripping for no obvious reason?

A persistently tripping RCD with no obvious cause is commonly a sign of deteriorating cable insulation, moisture ingress into an outdoor socket or fitting, or a failing component within the consumer unit itself. In older properties across West Sussex, ageing wiring can develop insulation faults that aren't immediately visible. An electrician can use an insulation resistance tester to pinpoint exactly where the fault is without needing to open up walls.