Power cut in Bournemouth, Poole or Christchurch? Who to call first (2026)
Power cut in Bournemouth, Poole or Christchurch? Check whether it's just your home, then report it to SSEN, the local network operator, not your supplier.
Electrical ExchangePublished · Updated · 9 min read
The quick answer
If your neighbours and the street lights are out too, it's most likely a network fault. In Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch the network operator is SSEN (Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks), so report it on SSEN's Power Track map or app, or call 105 free. Your energy supplier can't restore power. If only your home is off, check your consumer unit: if a tripped switch won't stay on, you need an electrician. If a power line is down, keep well away and call 105, or 999 if anyone is in danger.
If you have a power cut in Bournemouth, Poole or Christchurch, the company that gets your power back is Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), which runs the local cables and substations, not the energy supplier you pay. Report it on SSEN’s Power Track map or app, or call 105 free. First, take a minute to check whether the problem is inside your home, because that changes who you need. We’re an electrical team based in Christchurch; here’s how to tell.
Power cut in Bournemouth or Poole, or just your home?
SSEN’s advice has three steps: check, reset, report.
- Check. Do your neighbours have power? SSEN says that if they don’t, the fault is likely to be on its network, and that a lit display on your meter means power is reaching your property. At night, check the street lights too.
- Reset. If only your home is off, look for a tripped switch on your consumer unit (fuse box). SSEN suggests a full reset: the larger main switches off, then the smaller ones; the larger ones back on first, then the smaller ones one at a time.
- Report. If your neighbours are off too, or a reset hasn’t brought the power back, report it to SSEN.
If a switch flips straight back off, stop there. Citizens Advice says a circuit breaker switch that won’t stay on means calling an electrician.
Good to know If your neighbours and the street lights are dark too, it’s most likely a network fault, and SSEN is the company that fixes it.
What you see, and who to call
| What you see | What it points to | Who to contact |
|---|---|---|
| Neighbours and street lights are dark too | A fault on the local network | SSEN: Power Track, or call 105 |
| Only your home is off, and a switch has tripped | Something in your home | Reset it; if it won’t stay on, an electrician |
| Only your home is off, with every switch on | The supply to your home, or the meter | SSEN first; your supplier if the meter shows a fault |
| A prepayment meter out of credit or showing an error | Your meter, not a power cut | Top up, or call your supplier’s 24-hour helpline |
| The main fuse holder (cut-out), usually by your meter, is damaged, hot or leaking | A problem with SSEN’s equipment | Keep away and call 105 |
| A fallen power line or damaged substation | Danger to anyone nearby | Keep well away; call 105, or 999 if anyone is in danger |
| Burn marks on plugs or sockets, or buzzing or crackling | A possible wiring fault | An electrician, as soon as possible; 999 in an emergency |
SSEN runs the network across Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch
The Energy Networks Association’s (ENA) postcode lookup returns SSEN for a postcode in every district from BH1 to BH18, and for BH23 (checked 23 October 2026). Your bill confirms it: the MPAN, your supply’s reference number, includes a two-digit distributor ID, and 20 means SSEN’s southern England network. Some homes are on independent networks, which have IDs of their own.
Searches for a Bournemouth power cut can turn up National Grid and UK Power Networks pages, but those companies run other regions’ networks; here, it’s SSEN.
Restoration can come in stages. When a fault cut power to around 6,800 properties in the Highcliffe area on 3 December 2025, SSEN told the Bournemouth Echo it had restored most of them by re-routing supplies, leaving around 2,300 off and all due back by 4pm.
How to report a power cut and follow it
- Power Track. SSEN’s online map and free iOS and Android app show planned and unplanned cuts, take reports, and can text you updates on a cut that affects you.
- 105. The call is free from a landline or mobile, and SSEN’s phone lines are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
- WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. SSEN takes reports by message too.
Report every cut, even a short one: SSEN says some faults are intermittent and only show up as a pattern. For planned work, it aims to give at least two days’ written notice.
Good to know Power Track and 105 both reach SSEN, the network operator: an energy supplier has no way to restore the power.
Your energy supplier doesn’t restore power
The company you pay for electricity can’t fix a power cut. The ENA says network operators fix power cuts that aren’t caused by a problem inside your home, and Ofgem says your local network operator is responsible for fixing them. Your supplier deals with the meter: Citizens Advice says a meter problem or a prepayment meter out of credit can leave you without power while your neighbours still have it, and to call your supplier’s 24-hour helpline if you suspect the meter.
Join the Priority Services Register before you need it
The Priority Services Register (PSR) is free, and both your energy supplier and your network operator keep one. SSEN suggests joining if you’re over 60, live with children under five, have a disability or a chronic illness, are deaf or hard of hearing, are blind or partially sighted, use medical equipment that relies on electricity, or temporarily need extra support.
- What you get: power cut updates around the clock, a personalised Power Cut Plan, and a password so you know a caller is genuine.
- How to join: call SSEN’s Priority Services team on 0800 294 3259. It doesn’t ask for proof, and you can sign up a family member.
Joining doesn’t bring extra compensation.
Compensation for a long power cut (from 1 April 2026)
Ofgem’s Guaranteed Standards of Performance set what SSEN must pay you when it misses a standard. From 1 April 2026, a home gets:
| If your supply… | A home gets |
|---|---|
| isn’t back in 12 hours (normal weather, under 5,000 properties off) | £100, plus £45 per further 12 hours |
| isn’t back in 24 hours (normal weather, 5,000 or more off) | £100, plus £45 per further 12 hours, up to £400 |
| isn’t back in 24 hours in a category 1 storm | £90, plus £45 per further 6 hours, up to £2,235 |
| isn’t back in 48 hours in a category 2 storm | £90, plus £45 per further 6 hours, up to £2,235 |
| goes off four times between 1 April and 31 March, for at least three hours each time | £100, if you claim within three months after the year ends |
| is cut for planned work without two days’ notice, or on a different day | £40, if you claim within a month |
The first four are paid automatically; the last two you must claim. Ofgem sets storm categories by how many faults a storm causes on the network, and they’re not the Met Office’s. Its consumer guide says more than four cuts for the repeat payment, but the regulation, like SSEN, says four. Older figures such as £95 or £85 still circulate: Ofgem updates them yearly for inflation.
Good to know The payments for a long cut arrive without a claim, but the repeat-cuts and short-notice payments only come if you ask for them.
Staying safe while the power is off
- Switch things off that shouldn’t be left unattended, such as irons, ovens, electric fires and fryers, and leave one light on so you know when the power returns.
- Use a torch. The government’s Be Ready advice is that torches are safer than candles.
- Keep generators and barbecues outdoors. Another network operator, National Grid Electricity Distribution, warns never to use either indoors in a power cut: fuel-burning appliances can release carbon monoxide, an invisible, odourless gas that can kill.
- Keep the fridge and freezer shut. The Food Standards Agency says a cut of under four hours is unlikely to affect chilled or frozen food, and a full freezer should stay frozen for up to 48 hours, or 24 if half full, as an estimate.
- Stay away from fallen lines. Electricity at high voltage can jump gaps without warning. BCP Council’s weather alerts send residents to their local electricity network for power cuts, and to 999 for an emergency or danger to life.
Good to know A torch is safer than a candle, and a generator or barbecue belongs outside, never in the house.
When the fault is inside your home
If your neighbours have power and a switch keeps tripping, the fault is inside your home. Electrical Safety First says an RCD that keeps tripping is likely to have a fault behind it, in a particular appliance or in the wiring itself. Leave the main fuse holder by your meter alone: it’s SSEN’s equipment, and a damaged one is a 105 call.
If the fault can’t wait, our electricians provide 24/7 emergency response for urgent electrical issues. An emergency electrician can trace what’s tripping your power and make it safe. From our Christchurch base we cover fault-finding and repairs for Christchurch homes and tracing faults in Poole homes, alongside the repairs, rewiring and inspections we carry out across the area.
After the power comes back on
- Give it a moment. SSEN advises waiting until power is fully restored before switching appliances back on, to help prevent faults or damage.
- Protect your electronics. The government advises unplugging your TV and computer, as a surge when the power returns can damage them. Compensation doesn’t cover that, so read how a surge protection device works.
- Still off when the street is back? Check your consumer unit, then report it again: the ENA says a “hidden” or “nested” fault on the line can explain a restoration message when your power isn’t back.
- Tripping as things come back on? Treat it as a fault for an electrician.
If your fuse board has no RCD protection at all, Electrical Safety First recommends upgrading it to the latest standard, though not urgently: ask us about replacing a fuse board that has no RCDs. A full inspection and test of your wiring ends in an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), and our guide to how often a home’s wiring should be inspected covers the timing.
The short version for Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch
Check your neighbours and your consumer unit first. If the street is dark, report it to SSEN on Power Track or call 105: your supplier can’t fix it. And if a power cut in Bournemouth, Poole or Christchurch has left a fault inside your home, ask us for a free quote.
Questions we're often asked
- Is there a power cut in Bournemouth right now?
- Look on SSEN's Power Track map, which covers Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, and where SSEN keeps people updated until the power is back. If your outage isn't shown, add a report there or ring 105. SSEN wants every cut logged, even a brief one, because each report helps it track down faults.
- What happens when you call 105?
- It connects you, at no charge, to your local electricity network operator, from any landline or mobile in Great Britain. Around Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch that means SSEN. Use it to report a cut, or damage to power lines or substations that could put you or anyone else in danger.
- Why does my power go off for a minute and then come back?
- It can be the network's own safety equipment at work. SSEN says branches touching overhead lines can cut the power for around a minute, and where faults recur it may fit substation equipment that replaces fuses automatically, which you'd notice as an outage of up to three minutes. Report each one.
- Will solar panels keep my lights on in a power cut?
- Usually not. SSEN says panels switch off automatically during a cut, so no electricity is sent back into the network while engineers work on it, and they normally restart by themselves once power returns. A battery can run parts of a home through a cut only if it has a backup or 'island' mode.
- Does compensation cover a fridge or TV damaged by a power cut?
- No. Ofgem lists damage to electrical equipment or appliances among the things network operators don't pay for, alongside blackouts caused by a national power shortage and a low supply after a cut. The government's tip is to unplug a TV or computer while the power is off, so a surge on restoration can't harm it.
