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

Q: Can I claim compensation for a power cut?

You may be entitled to automatic compensation from your DNO if an outage runs past a certain number of hours. The threshold varies depending on whether the outage was classed as severe weather and which network you're on. Keep a record of the start time and your reference number from the 105 call. Food spoilage isn't covered directly through the DNO, but some home insurance policies do include it - check your policy documents before throwing anything away.

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

A homeowner in Barnstaple notices, just after 7pm on a wet October evening, that every light in the house cuts out at once. The TV goes black mid-programme, the boiler stops humming, and the kitchen falls completely silent. She grabs her phone torch and heads to the understairs cupboard where the fuse box lives - but the row of switches inside looks undisturbed. When she glances through the window, every other house on the street is lit up as normal.

What Was Actually Going On

When a power cut affects only your property and your neighbours are completely unaffected, the fault is almost certainly inside your home rather than out on the distribution network. An external power cut is the responsibility of your Distribution Network Operator (DNO), but an internal fault is your responsibility - and you need a qualified electrician to investigate and fix it. Understanding which situation you're dealing with is the single most important thing you can do in the first five minutes.

In this Barnstaple homeowner's case, the culprit turned out to be a failing RCD - a residual current device - inside the consumer unit. An RCD is a safety switch that cuts the circuit the moment it detects a fault current, protecting against electric shock and fire. They're reliable over many years, but they do degrade. In older properties across Barnstaple and the wider Devon area, consumer units from the 1990s and early 2000s are still common, and the internal components wear out over time. In this case, the RCD had deteriorated to the point where it was no longer holding correctly, causing a complete loss of power to the whole property without a visible trip on the switch itself.

There are two distinct types of power cut you can face at home, and they require completely different responses:

External network outage: A fault on the local distribution network, typically caused by storm damage, vehicle impact on a cable, or a substation problem. Multiple properties are affected at once.
Internal electrical fault: A problem inside your consumer unit, fixed wiring, or a specific appliance circuit. Only your property loses power. This is your responsibility to fix and requires a qualified electrician.

Telling the two apart takes about 30 seconds. Look out the window. If the street is dark, it's a network outage. If your neighbours have power and you don't, the fault is internal.

How the Problem Was Resolved

Here is the step-by-step process our engineers recommend when you lose power at home. Work through these in order, without rushing.

Step 1 - Find your consumer unit before you do anything else

Go to your fuse box with a torch - your phone torch is fine. Do not try to navigate a dark house by feel. The consumer unit is typically found in a hallway, understairs cupboard, kitchen, or utility room. Once you're there, look at the panel clearly before touching anything. Note which switches, if any, are in the tripped or "off" position.

Step 2 - Confirm whether the fault is on the network or inside your home

Check your neighbours. You can also call 105 - a free helpline that connects you directly to your regional electricity network operator. Calling 105 is the correct first step when you suspect a network fault, connecting you to your regional electricity network operator to report or check on an outage. In Barnstaple, your DNO is National Grid Electricity Distribution (formerly Western Power Distribution). If you're on their outage map, you're dealing with a network fault - not an internal one.

Step 3 - Try resetting tripped breakers one circuit at a time

If the consumer unit shows a tripped RCD or individual circuit breaker, switch everything off first. Then try resetting the main RCD switch. If it holds, turn your individual circuits back on one at a time, leaving a few seconds between each. If the RCD trips again when you switch on a particular circuit, that's your faulty circuit. Unplug everything from every socket on that circuit, reset again, and see whether the RCD holds steady. If it does, the fault is likely in a specific appliance - plug them back in one at a time until the trip reappears.

Step 4 - Do not keep trying to force reset

If the RCD trips repeatedly with nothing plugged in, or your consumer unit has lost power entirely with no obvious trip visible, stop there. Do not repeatedly force the switch back on. Forcing resets on a failing component can mask a serious underlying fault and may cause additional damage. This is the point at which you need a professional.

Step 5 - Call a qualified electrician

For the Barnstaple homeowner in our scenario, an electrician arrived within two hours of her call. Using an insulation resistance meter and a circuit tester, the engineer traced the fault to the degraded RCD. The component was replaced, every circuit was tested individually, and full power was restored safely. Total time on site: just under two hours.

If it's a network outage rather than an internal fault, your job is simply to report it via 105 and wait. You may be entitled to compensation from your DNO if the outage exceeds a certain number of hours - keep a note of when the power went off and any reference number the operator gives you.

What This Cost and How Long It Took

For the Barnstaple homeowner, the total bill came to around 280 pounds. That covered an emergency call-out fee, an hour and a half of the engineer's time, and the replacement RCD unit. Start to finish - from the initial phone call to lights back on - took about three and a half hours.

Here's a realistic breakdown of what you might pay for common power-related electrical work in Barnstaple:

Emergency call-out fee: typically 60 to 120 pounds, higher on evenings and weekends
Electrical fault diagnosis: typically 80 to 150 pounds per hour for the engineer's labour
Single RCD replacement: typically 100 to 200 pounds including the part
Full consumer unit replacement: typically 450 to 900 pounds for a modern unit with RCBO protection on every circuit, plus labour
Full rewire of a mid-sized property: typically 3,500 to 6,000 pounds or more depending on size, access, and the condition of existing cabling

If the fault is on the network - their side of the meter - the DNO covers all repair costs. You pay nothing. Everything from the meter into your property is your responsibility financially. The distinction matters, so it's worth knowing.

If you book through a platform like Voltrade, the GoFIX diagnostic tool lets you describe your symptoms in detail before the engineer arrives. In our experience, that typically shortens on-site diagnosis time considerably - the engineer arrives already knowing what to look for, rather than starting from scratch.

How to Spot the Same Issue in Your Home

Not all electrical faults announce themselves with a total power cut. Many give early warning signs that, caught in time, can prevent a more serious failure. Here's what to watch for in a typical Barnstaple property:

Breakers that trip repeatedly

If a single circuit keeps tripping - the kitchen ring main cuts out every few weeks, for example - that's a sign of an overloaded circuit, a deteriorating appliance, or a developing wiring fault. It's not something to live with. Get it looked at before it escalates.

Flickering lights on one circuit

Occasional flickering on a single circuit commonly points to a loose connection - at the light fitting, at a socket, or at a terminal inside the consumer unit. Persistent flickering across multiple circuits can indicate a supply voltage issue, which warrants a call to your DNO rather than an electrician.

Burning smell or discolouration at sockets

Any smell of burning plastic, or visible brown or black discolouration around a socket faceplate or near the consumer unit, is an urgent warning sign. Switch off the affected circuit at the fuse box and call an electrician without delay. Do not continue using the socket or assume the smell will just go away.

An older consumer unit without RCD protection

If your Barnstaple home still has an older-style fuse box fitted with ceramic or rewireable wire fuses rather than modern circuit breakers, it's worth having it assessed by a qualified electrician. Homes with older consumer units commonly lack the residual current protection that's been standard in new-build and rewired properties for many years. It doesn't mean the system is about to fail, but there's significantly less protection in place if something does go wrong.

RCDs that trip after heavy rain

If your protection trips specifically after sustained rainfall - particularly if you have outdoor sockets, pond lighting, or a detached garage fed from the main consumer unit - moisture getting into an external fitting or an underground cable is the most likely cause. This is more common in older properties with original exterior electrical installations.

Lessons - What Every Barnstaple Homeowner Should Know

The homeowner in our scenario did the right things. She didn't panic, she checked the basics methodically, and she called a professional rather than attempting repairs herself. Here's what she took away from the experience, and what we'd pass on to anyone in Barnstaple dealing with a loss of power at home.

Know where your consumer unit is before something goes wrong. A surprising number of people don't know exactly where their fuse box is or couldn't reach it safely in darkness. Keep a dedicated torch nearby - not just your phone - and make sure every adult in the household knows where the consumer unit is and what a tripped switch looks like.

Save 105 in your phone right now. The 105 helpline is free, works across all UK networks, and connects you to the operator responsible for the physical wires in your area. It's the correct number for any outage affecting your street or neighbourhood. Calling your energy supplier won't help - they supply the tariff, not the cables.

Be ready for a prolonged outage. A calm response to a power cut means having a torch, keeping devices reasonably charged, knowing what's in the freezer, and having a basic plan for heating if the outage runs overnight. Rural areas of Devon in particular can see extended outages following severe weather, so a small amount of preparation goes a long way.

Food safety during an outage. A fridge will typically keep food safe for around four hours if you leave it closed. A fully packed freezer can hold temperature for up to 48 hours; a half-empty one for around 24. Resist the urge to check the contents repeatedly - every time you open the door you let cold air out.

Keep records if you want to claim compensation. Write down the exact time the power went off, note when it came back, and keep the reference number from your 105 call. DNOs have thresholds beyond which automatic compensation applies, and you'll need the timestamps to support any claim you make.