What should you do if you have no electricity? | Guernsey Electricity

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Power Failure help

No electricity?

In an emergency, please use our 24 hour freephone emergency number 0800 587 0285. Our engineers are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
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If your lights go out or sockets fail, there could be a number of reasons. The first thing to do is check your trip switch, which is usually located next to your main fuse box or the electricity meter.

Why do you have no power?

  • Your trip switch may have operated

  • The main service fuse in your home may have failed

  • Your pre-payment meter may have run out of credit or may be faulty

  • There may be a network fault in your area

If the trip switch is OFF 

  1. Try to switch it back on. If the switch trips immediately you have a fault in an appliance or in the wiring of your property.
  2. Leave the trip switch off, unplug all appliances and turn off things like your immersion heater, oven and hob. Try the trip switch again.
  3. If it stays on, one by one begin to switch appliances back on. By this process of elimination, you should find the faulty appliance. Leave that appliance unplugged or switched off and call the service agent.
  4. If the switch still refuses to re-set, double check that all equipment has been switched off. If everything has been unplugged or switched off and the switch will not re-set you may have a fault in the wiring. Do not attempt to trace the fault yourself, call us on 245828 and we will send out an Electrician to your property.

If the trip switch is ON

  1. Check to see if your neighbours still have their electricity supply. Are their lights on? If everywhere is off, call our Freephone emergency number 0800 587 0285. Do not assume we are aware that you have lost supply.
  2. If your neighbours still have their electricity supply and you appear to be the only house without supply our main service fuse inside your home may have failed. Call our Freephone emergency number 0800 587 0285.

If the fault is due to a failure of our own equipment, the service is free. If, however, the fault proves to be within the customers own property or equipment, we will make a charge for our attendance. 

If there is a power failure in the island, the Guernsey Electricity social media pages will be kept up-to-date with the latest information.

food
How long will food last in a fridge or freezer without power?

You may be concerned at this time about the food in your fridge and freezer. Food should keep for between 4-6 hours in the fridge and 15-24 hours in the freezer if you can avoid opening it.

You should keep the doors of your fridge and freezer closed.

More information
IMPORTANT: PLEASE BE AWARE

If there is an electrical fault in your property immediately following a power outage, a paid electrician will need to visit your property to rectify the problem. This can be one of our electricians or an electrician of your choice and the cost cannot be covered by Guernsey Electricity. 

 

See our Legal Statement

pay-as-you-go

Advice for pre-payment customers

Check that you have credit on the meter. 

If you need to top up, visit one of the following outlets: Iceland - The Bridge, Checkers Express - Collings Road; Jeffrey's Garage; Landes du Marche Garage and Candie Cache Stores.

If there is unused credit on your meter there may be a fault and you should call our Freephone emergency number: 0800 587 0285.

 

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