If your property is going to be affected by a planned outage, you will receive either a letter or an email from Counties Energy. Additionally, you can view upcoming planned outages on our Outage Hub here.
Planned power outages
Planned outages allow us to carry out scheduled work and maintenance on our network. Read on to learn more about our planned outage process, tips to help you prepare for an outage, and frequently asked questions about planned outages.
Planned outages are scheduled for essential maintenance and improvements on our network. Customers are notified of a planned outage ahead of time either by email or letter, so that they can plan accordingly.
Although we cannot guarantee an uninterrupted power supply, regular maintenance and network improvements help in the long run with the reliability of supply.
Planned outages are organised as far in advance as possible to ensure programmes of work are aligned to minimise the impact on customers.
How to prepare for a planned outage
1
Before the outage begins, ensure that your essential devices, such as cell phones and power packs, are fully charged.
2
Keep our customer support contact number handy in case you have any questions or concerns during the outage.
3
If the planned outage impacts your water supply, consider storing enough water for drinking and washing in advance.
4
To protect your appliances and devices from potential power surges when power is restored, consider turning these off during the outage.
5
Our crews work as quickly and safely as they can to complete network maintenance and improvements. However, there may be times when planned outages run over time due to unforeseen circumstances e.g. bad weather. Your understanding and patience is always appreciated.
Frequently asked questions
How does Counties Energy inform me about a planned outage?
Can I change the date or time of a planned outage affecting me?
Once Counties Energy has sent you a notification with the confirmed date and time for the planned outage, we’re unable to make any changes to this. This is because there are many moving parts of a planned outage that need organising ahead of time – traffic management, crews, vehicles (such as bucket trucks) and equipment.
I’m medically dependent on electricity, who do I contact if I have no power?
We encourage medically dependent customers to have a plan in place for when there are power interruptions. Please ensure you are registered as a ‘medically dependent consumer’ with your current retailer (the company you pay your power bill to). We also recommend that you work with your health provider on an emergency response plan for unscheduled power cuts.
Why can’t you give me a generator during a power outage?
Counties Energy may use commercial sized generators whilst carrying out planned maintenance or upgrades on the network. However, this is not always the case as it depends on the nature of the work. We do not provide generators to individual properties or customers as this is not practical; in some cases outages affect hundreds if not thousands of customers spread across a wide geographical area.