How to Prepare for a Power Outage: Checklist and Safety Tips

The short answer

Before: keep torches, spare batteries, charged power banks, bottled water, food that needs no cooking, a first-aid kit, medicines and warm layers in one place.

During: keep the fridge and freezer shut, unplug electronics, use torches instead of candles, and never run a generator, grill or camp stove indoors.

After: check food before eating it, and plug appliances back in gradually.

The power-cut kit

Keep these together in a box or cupboard that everyone in the house knows about:

• Torches or headlamps, and spare batteries. One per person is ideal.
• Power banks, kept charged. A larger one can recharge a phone several times.
• Battery or wind-up radio for local news if mobile networks fail.
• Water: about 4 litres (1 gallon) per person per day, for at least three days.
• Food that needs no cooking: tinned fish and beans, nuts, crackers, cereal, dried fruit, peanut butter. Include a manual tin opener.
• Medicines for at least a week, and a first-aid kit.
• Warm layers, blankets and sleeping bags in winter.
• Cash, because card machines and cash machines may not work.
• Printed list of key phone numbers, including your electricity supplier's outage line.
• A cool box and ice packs for medicines that need refrigeration.

If anyone in the home relies on powered medical equipment, such as oxygen concentrators or home dialysis, tell your electricity supplier. Many keep a priority register and will contact you before planned cuts.

When a storm is forecast

If a winter storm warning or hurricane warning is issued:

1. Charge everything: phones, power banks, laptops, torches.
2. Turn the freezer to its coldest setting, and fill empty space with bottles of water, which freeze and act as ice blocks.
3. Fill the car's fuel tank, since petrol pumps need electricity.
4. Get cash out.
5. Fill jugs with tap water, especially if your home relies on an electric pump.
6. Protect pipes in freezing weather. See our guide to preventing frozen pipes.

For hurricanes, our hurricane preparedness guide covers evacuation and storm-proofing too.

During the outage

Keep food safe

• Keep the fridge and freezer doors closed. A closed fridge stays cold enough for about 4 hours. A full freezer stays frozen for about 48 hours, and a half-full freezer for about 24 hours.
• In freezing weather, do not put food outside in the snow. Sun can warm it and animals can get to it. A cool box with snow or ice is safer.

Stay warm

• Gather in one room, ideally one with few windows, and close the doors.
• Layer up, including hats and socks, and use blankets and sleeping bags.
• Cover windows with curtains or blankets at night.
• Do not use a gas oven or hob to heat the home.

Avoid carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is one of the biggest causes of death during and after storms. It is invisible and has no smell.

• Generators must run outdoors, at least 6 metres (20 feet) from doors, windows and vents, never in a garage or basement.
• Never use grills, barbecues or camp stoves indoors.
• Fit a battery-powered CO alarm and test it.
• If you feel dizzy, sick, confused or get a headache, get into fresh air immediately and call emergency services.

Use light safely

Use torches and battery lanterns rather than candles. If you do use candles, never leave them unattended and keep them away from curtains, children and pets.

Protect your electronics

Unplug computers, televisions and other sensitive electronics, because power can return with a surge. Leave one light switched on so you know when the power is back.

Keep your phone going

Switch on low-power mode, dim the screen, close apps and use text messages, which use less battery and get through more easily than calls when networks are busy.

When the power comes back

1. Wait a few minutes, then plug appliances back in one at a time to avoid overloading the circuit.
2. Check food. Throw away perishable food from the fridge if the power was off more than 4 hours, and anything that smells or looks odd. Freezer food that still has ice crystals or is at 4°C (40°F) or below can be refrozen. When in doubt, throw it out. Our fridge storage guide has more.
3. Reset clocks, alarms and thermostats.
4. Restock your kit for next time.

Key takeaways

• Keep a kit with light, power banks, water, no-cook food, medicines and warm layers.
• Keep fridge and freezer doors closed: 4 hours for the fridge, 24 to 48 hours for the freezer.
• Never run generators, grills or stoves indoors, and fit a CO alarm.
• Unplug electronics, and throw away fridge food after 4 hours without power.