Dear LPG,

I am writing this on May 31^st 2018, but I have asked LPG if they will save it and put it on line on the anniversary of that really stormy day that occurred exactly a year and two days ago today. 

It was a Tuesday and I had travelled down to Gillingham for the day to look after my 2 year old grandson.  If you remember we had just enjoyed a couple of really sunny weeks and a particularly pleasant bank holiday the day before, but heavy rain was predicted for that day and it did not disappoint.  

That morning, the sound of the rain hitting the conservatory roof was really loud, but I made my little relative some breakfast and we braved it as we made a brief visit to the shops and had a snack out.  I brought the ingredients for dinner back with us and put the little one to bed for a while.  I then spent a bit of time doing some writing on a lap top for which I did not need to access the internet but the rain was distracting.  It was then that I decided on a cup of tea but the kettle did not work.  The sound of the rain was not pleasant so I tried the TV which did not work either.  It was then that I realised that we had experienced the first power cut that I can remember since the turn of the century.  I decided to crack on with making lunch which was when I realised that although they have a gas cooker there was no pilot light click when I pressed, and I had no idea where they keep matches.    I took an ingredient from the fridge and noticed that the light did not come on when I opened the fridge door, of course, it was not working either.  I then thought about the freezer and it occurred to me that I should tell my children what was going on.

Not wanting to disturb them at work I texted my son and his wife but there was no immediate response; I was hoping that one of them would get back to me at their respective lunchtimes. It started to get really dark at this point but the lights did not work allowing the lightning to have more of a disturbing effect.  The little one was quite alarmed by the rain which had now become thunderous with lightning to accompany it.  I thought I would distract him with his tablet but the internet router needs electricity to work; no internet, no kiddie’s games.  I decided to make a phone call but there was no reception on my mobile, while without electricity the wireless home phone lost its charge too.  I have the internet on my mobile so I let the little one play with that, but then the charge got low which meant that, in spite of the mobile’s internet’ I could not use it.  The sad thing is that the power was only out for about two hours before I realised that all I had to do was switch the fuse back on. 

I have no doubt that many readers will think back to that day and remember getting soaked, and some may have had a power cut, but It just got me thinking.  I haven’t experienced an actual power cut since the beginning of this century before which they happened much more frequently, but two things struck me.  The first is how much more we depend on electricity now than we did even twenty years ago, and the second is that, for all the other toys the children have these days, the best distraction I could think of was the telly or a computer tablet, both of which were not available on the day.  I feel so stupid because I took so long to realise that a check of the fuse box could have saved me a couple of hours of hardship.

It is funny how quickly we forget.

OD, Bellingham

There is more than one reason for a power cut, in OD’s case it was just the one house and a fuse- overload issue, while sometimes they affect the whole area.  If only some of your appliances stop working it is likely that your fuse box is the answer to the problem.  Perhaps a trip next door to see if they are also affected will help to establish what is really going on.  Power cuts happen a lot less often than previously, but from time to time, and so LPG found some information about what to do if you suffer a power cut, and how to reset your fuse box. We hope that it might help.

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If you have any concerns during a power cut in your home, no matter what time of the night or day, dialling either 105 or Freephone 0800 31 63 105 will put you through to the UK Power Network’s helpline who will help you to establish if there is a problem in your area and, if not, exactly what is happening with the electricity in your home.