Hundreds of homes in England and Wales left without power as National Grid suffers cuts

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Hundreds of homes in England and Wales under the National Grid’s electricity distribution service have been left with no power this morning. Households in Staffordshire, West Midlands, Cornwall, Cardiff, and many others, who were previously under Western Power Distribution, have faced no energy supply on Friday morning. While these areas are now run by the National Grid’s electricity distribution service, these power cuts are unrelated to National Grid’s plan to issue three hour blackouts if energy supplies are low this winter. In many of these cases, the National Grid estimates that it will resolve the issue within hours.

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These power cuts took place in Staffordshire, West Midlands, Cornwall, Cardiff, Devon, Derbyshire, Shropshire, and Nottinghamshire, with over a hundred properties in Staffordshire alone being affected, according to poweroutage.

Customers living in these regions can find out if their post code has been affected by checking this Live Power cut map shared on the National Grid’s website.

The map shows that the largest cluster of power cuts is in the B37 post code district, which includes parts of Birmingham, Marston Green, Coleshill. The distributor noted that 90 properties have been left without power due to a “low voltage incident”.

On their website, they wrote: “These incidents tend to be smaller, more localised and could be why some of your neighbours still have power.” They added that the problem should be resolved by 11:30 today.

National Grid power outage as hundreds of homes in England and Wales left without supply (Image: National Grid/Getty)

The map shows hundreds of power cuts (Image: National Grid)

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Predicting that the supply would return at noon today, the National Grid wrote: “our engineers are working to get the power returned as quickly as possible. We are sorry for any inconvenience this is causing you.”

These power cuts were unplanned and unrelated to the National Grid’s Demand Flexibility Service, which sees households paid to take a variety of energy saving measures at peak times.

At 8:21 am, 6 households were left without power between the post codes WS11 1RZ and WS11 1SA. The distributor noted that electricity supply should resume here by 10:00 am today.

However, while only affecting 6 properties, this incident was different as it was a High voltage incident, which they wrote “tend to be larger, affecting the wider area and could mean your neighbours are off supply too.”

Some homes reported power cuts as early as 5:21 am (Image: Getty)

In Wales, a low voltage incident involving 55 properties was reported at 6:49 am near Cardiff, with the National Grid estimating that power should resume by noon today.

Minutes ago (9:38 am), 109 postcodes reported a power cut across a number of postcodes in the BA5 area, known as Wells. The distributor noted that this low-voltage incident should be resolved by 12:30 today.

Meanwhile, two separate incidents were reported in the PL25 region in the South-west of England in the PL25 postcodes. Together, 84 homes were affected by this low-voltage incident, while supply should resume by 10:00-10:30.

The Met Office also has some advice on how to prepare for — and handle — a power cut.

It is wise, they said, to keep a supply of torches and batteries to hand in the event of an emergency, and to ensure that you keep your mobile phone charged so that you can still make calls, in an emergency situation, should the power supply fail.

The Met Office added: "If electricity is crucial for any medical equipment you have, please contact your distribution network operator […] as they may be able to put you on their priority register for assistance during any power outage."

In the event that a blackout strikes, they continued, it is best to keep fridges and freezers closed — as so they remain cold — look out for any senior or vulnerable neighbours, and switch off appliances like irons, ovens, electric fires, etc. so that they don't pose a potential hazard when the power is restored.

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