What should I do during a power cut?

It's always useful to be prepared for a power cut — particularly if energy shortages were to cause winter blackouts

If you have warning, charge up what you can ahead of time. A mobile phone can be used “tethered” to provide internet access when your modem is out of action to stream movies and more. Picture: iStock

Blackout, brownout, power-cut, what we call “phitt-bang”, being without power even with a little warning — well, it’s cold, blind panic in the making. 

When the hamster at ESB Networks falls off his exercise wheel, and you’re relying on a pump and a split-kilowatt to drive your heating system, multiple joys await if you have not invested in a domestic generator. 

Despite the €500-€1,500 shocker, sales for backup “jennies” are rumoured to be up 200%-300% nationwide.

Just last week a power outage in Cork city left thousands of people in darkness, with the blackout hitting the commercial centre of Oliver Plunkett Street, Patrick's Street, half of Washington Street and surrounding areas.

Confused, ticked off, onesie-wearing teens, cruelly robbed of their 5K umbilical cord, prowl the shadowy corridors. Pets become flitting tripping hazards, and suddenly a family who interacts little during the week are eyeballing each other over a flickering tea light. Speaking of - my instant monkey-brain response to phitt-bang is a primal need for tea, prompted by the untimely death of the kettle. This Celtic thirst-of-thirsts becomes increasingly unreasonable and hysteric as the hours tick mournfully by. 

Here’s a cool, calm collected plan to grope your way out of the dark.

Be ready to inform ESB Networks of an outage. This is easy to do via a smartphone, and you can check the status of your fault via an online map, without ever hearing a real human voice at powercheck.esbnetworks.ie. You will be prompted to check that your power has not failed at your fuse box.

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In some instances, it may be a problem with your wiring or an appliance tripping your home. Get to know your system and any push-to-test mechanism. ESB Networks advise, “If your trip-switch has tripped or a fuse has blown, turn off all your appliances before resetting the switch or replacing the fuse. If you have an outside Meter Cabinet also ensure if there is a Circuit Breaker that the switch is in the correct position”.

If you have medical equipment that must run consistently, strategise a Plan B right now, and in the event of an outage keep calling the ESB Networks number until you reach someone who can prioritise your home. Ask your supplier to put you on their version of the Vulnerable Customer Register immediately, which is then communicated to ESB Networks. 

For everyone - put the ESB Fault and Emergency contact on your phone now — 1800-372-999, and remember, don’t report a power outage as an emergency, unless it really is. Chances are it’s a simple power cut and part of a known local “cluster”. Have your MPRN number (meter number) and Eircode on hand. Behind a magnet on the fridge or as a sticker on the home phone is perfect.

Deal with your appliances and electronics. We don’t want everything in the house to come popping to life all at once, so avoid a damaging surge by turning off anything dubious or sensitive when the outage happens, including a PC or equipment not run through a surge protector. 

ESB Networks advises: 'If your trip switch has tripped or a fuse has blown, turn off all your appliances before resetting the switch or replacing the fuse. If you have an outside meter cabinet also ensure if there is a Circuit Breaker that the switch is in the correct position.'

A multi-gang surge protector is fantastic for everything from your printer to your speakers. Do an inventory of the whole family, making sure no one was straightening their hair or soldering body armour. Unplug every electric appliance bar the fridge/freezer.

If it’s daytime, switch on the light in the room you are likely to be in when the power returns, and keep out of the fridge as much as possible as it can hold the cold for four hours if left without interference. Obviously, the freezer should not be opened for the duration. Close internal doors to keep the heat in, and by night, draw the curtains unless surviving street lighting is diffusing into the room. If you have a tank of tropical fish, drape a blanket around the tank, to slow the water cooling.

Lighting

It’s a truth, universally acknowledged, that torches of every kind from truncheons to lanterns are completely useless when the batteries are toes up. Plan a kit ahead of time — a stout box or shelf where you know the black-out goodies are ready and able. Purchase batteries to suit them this weekend. Put a few AA and AAA spares in a box with the torch and ensure any models charging from the wall or in the garage are functioning and ready for service.

Rechargeable LED flashlights are a great piece of kit once your phone torch finally blinks out. Look for a 12cm, 1000 lumen model — perfect for home use and ensure that everyone knows where it is kept, and the importance of leaving it there. Rechargeable lithium batteries can be powered via a USB cable — far better for the environment than a set of disposables hitting the landfill. 

Key into the novelty of the outage. Children might prefer glow sticks and head torches to conventional models — great fun. Just beware they don’t scamper straight off the top of the stairs in the excitement of imaginative play in this, exciting shadowy world. This is the moment for reading to little ones, unnerved by it all. In terms of candlepower, avoid open flames as far as possible, and if you do deploy tea lights and tapers, ensure they are secured in appropriate holders, are monitored closely, and are extinguished safely.

Don’t get clever with Tic-Toc hackery. Experiments with flower-pot heaters can go horribly wrong. Bundle up or snuggle down instead. One-position lighting alternatives include strings of fairy lights, LED lanterns and push-lights stuck straight to the wall. For a comforting ambient glow, strap a torch inside an empty plastic milk container with duct tape. If you have solar spikes sitting outdoors (I love this tip), bring them in, balance them in tall, wide-bottomed vases or flower pots and deploy any stored power.

Anyone with a solid fuel stove (sans a back-boiler looking for its pump-action) or a drip-fed oil cooker like an AGA, will chortle through a power cut. Don’t leave LPG cabinet heaters blistering on for hours – use it for a little background heat and keep everyone together to enjoy it.

Cooking

The best thing I ever bought in my shaggy rural situation was a two-gas ring camper stove powered by cans of butane. It was €25 at Heatons and has quelled my rising shrieks for a brew for a decade now. This is an adult tool, not a kid’s toy, or a room heater, so have a safe bit of counter space in mind. Mark out one area of the cupboard for a few tins of soup, baked beans, ramen noodles, and individually packaged foods like oatcakes kept in air-tight containers.

A small stove like this can handle just about anything from stir fry to a steak, just keep the cooking times short as it really devours those canisters. There are also what are termed 12-volt “car kettles” which plug into the outlet in your vehicle — worth exploring as they can not only be used to hydrate cups of soup but hot-water bottles too.

If you have a water well, then the loo is going to run dry as the tank in the attic is parched. Fill a couple of buckets of water to manually refresh the tank if needed, leaving them in the bath for easy access.

Entertainment

If you have a corded phone that you abandoned in the garage, note its position as corded varieties won’t work without the electrically coaxed power base. Stash a pack of cards and some board games with big pieces that you can see in the half-light for a few laughs when it all just gets too much. Power cuts can really draw families together in a cosy, wartime, nostalgic sort of way.

If there is stormy weather on the way, and you are likely to be hit, presume the power may go and charge up your phone and laptop. That said, a good old-fashioned battery-powered radio can provide great entertainment and won’t let you down as a power bank will. Look for DAB models that can pick up a variety of stations including talk radio from around the World.