Sources for power cut advice and payments

Official pages we rely on (checked 25 October 2026)

UK government, Be Ready: be ready for emergencies, page updated 21 October 2026: the three-day checklist (water at 3 litres per person per day, food, hygiene, torch, battery or wind-up FM radio, power bank, cash, documents, first aid and medicines, baby and pet supplies), the grab bag and car supplies.
Be Ready household emergency plan (PDF) and the plan steps on the Be Ready page: meeting point, escape routes, contacts, the power cut numbers (105, and 03457 643643 in Northern Ireland), ICE contacts, schools.
Be Ready hazard pages on storms and cold weather, and alerts and warnings: storm steps, rooms at 18°C or more, the winter car kit, Emergency Alerts and warning sign-ups.
Ofgem, check if you can get a payment for a power cut: 105, guaranteed payments in normal weather and storms, automatic payment, the £40 for missed payments, the claim for more than four cuts.
Ofgem, join your supplier's Priority Services Register: who can join, the services, joining supplier and network registers separately.
Food Standards Scotland, power cuts: fridge and freezer times, the 8°C threshold, the order to eat food.
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, power cuts: candles, appliances, carbon monoxide, gas leaks, wind-up torches, 105.

Meals in the kit list are counted as three a day per person; the official list only says three days of food.
Torches per adult and warm layers per person are suggestions, not part of the official wording.
Payments are worked out in full periods (12 hours, or 6 hours in storms) after the first threshold, as Ofgem describes them.

Ofgem's yearly inflation update of the payment amounts; we recheck it when Ofgem publishes.