In October 2026, electricity network operators reported 19,042 unplanned power cuts, affecting 2,066,270 homes and businesses in total -- well above September's 7,433 and 686,965, almost entirely down to the two storms. That figure counts peak customers affected per incident, not unique people -- someone affected by two separate power cuts in the month is counted twice.
Which postcode areas had the most power cuts?
Rather than rank operators against each other, this month we've looked at where power cuts were actually reported -- by postcode area (the same geography behind our own postcode-area pages, e.g. S for Sheffield). Northern Ireland is left out of this particular ranking: its single BT postcode area covers the whole country, not a single town the way every other area does, so it isn't a fair comparison against the rest.
Ranked by number of power cuts, most first:
- 455 power cuts -- Tunbridge Wells (TN), around 99,400 customers affected
- 414 power cuts -- Guildford (GU), around 79,600 customers affected
- 411 power cuts -- Carlisle (CA), around 54,900 customers affected
- 383 power cuts -- Lancaster (LA), around 32,500 customers affected
- 380 power cuts -- Aberdeen (AB), around 47,000 customers affected
- 342 power cuts -- Reading (RG), around 37,000 customers affected
- 322 power cuts -- Inverness (IV), around 32,000 customers affected
- 322 power cuts -- Norwich (NR), around 60,700 customers affected
- 320 power cuts -- Ipswich (IP), around 66,800 customers affected
- 284 power cuts -- Southampton (SO), around 49,100 customers affected
The pattern matches the storms' own paths: Tunbridge Wells, Guildford and Reading sit in the south east Storm Austen spread into, while Carlisle, Lancaster, Aberdeen and Inverness were all in Storm Boelo's path across the north.
Ranked by customers affected instead of number of power cuts, a couple of areas not in the list above climb in: York (YO) (249 power cuts, around 65,600 customers) and Bournemouth (BH) (225 power cuts, around 63,100 customers) -- fewer power cuts overall, but some individually larger ones.
Sheffield (S) itself recorded 267 power cuts in October, affecting around 42,700 customers in total.
How long did a typical power cut last?
Across every operator, the typical power cut in October was restored within around 4 hours 5 minutes -- longer than September's 3 hours 21 minutes, in line with the storm disruption. That's the median, not the average -- a small number of much longer power cuts would otherwise pull a simple average well above what most people actually experienced.
The month's biggest power cuts
- 47,807 customers -- UK Power Networks, East London, 5 October, restored within two hours.
- 36,491 customers -- Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, Bournemouth, 5 October, restored within 15 minutes.
- 12,258 customers -- National Grid Electricity Distribution, Newport, 3 October, restored within an hour.
- 10,947 customers -- UK Power Networks, Croydon, 24-28 October, one of the slowest restorations of the month at over three days.
- 10,821 customers -- UK Power Networks, Croydon, 25 October, a second, separate incident in the same area a day later, restored within around seven hours.
Power cuts that ran 12 hours or more
Around 1,072 power cuts in October ran for 12 hours or longer with at least 25 homes and businesses still affected -- a rough guide to which incidents may meet Ofgem's Guaranteed Standards compensation thresholds, and a sharp rise on September's 402, again reflecting the storms. The exact criteria depend on how many customers were still affected at the 12-hour mark specifically, not just at the time the power cut started or ended. See how to make a compensation claim if you think a power cut you experienced may qualify.
Check your own postcode
Check whether a power cut is currently affecting your postcode on the outages.uk homepage, or see live and recent power cuts across the UK.