In the unlikely event of temporary disconnections of customers in an emergency, this would happen on a rotating basis based on ‘blocks’ of customers, to ensure that overall customer supplies are protected equally and fairly.
Each customer ‘block’ is identified by a letter from A to U which indicates where your property is connected to the electricity system.
How do I find out what ‘Load Block’ I am?
- You can check at https://www.powercut105.com/findoperator and input your postcode into the search form.If your postcode is recorded in the database then this will display the distributors network you are connected to, as well as the single letter ‘Load Block Identifier’
- You can check on your electricity bill, and look for a single letter on its own, or with text like ‘Postcode area alpha identifier’. It will usually be in the top 1/3rd of your bill and sometimes be enclosed in a box. If you have a combined gas and electricity energy bill then it may be in the electricity breakdown area of your bill and not on the first page.
- Contact your supplier
Examples of how to check on your electricity bill:
Octopus Energy
On page 2 of the bill with the electricity breakdown
EDF Energy
At the top of page 1, below the page number
SSE
Just beneath the address in a black box
British Gas
Just beneath your address, in an outline box
How does this help me understand when my electricity supply might go off?
In the unlikely event of emergency instructions to temporarily disconnect customer ‘blocks’, this would happen on a rotating basis to ensure that each customer group is affected for the minimum time necessary and in a fair manner, averaged across a full week period.
Each customer ‘block’ would be disconnected from the electricity supply, and re-connected again, based on a pre-arranged emergency rota. Your block identifier determines at what time of the day, and which days of the week, your supply would be interrupted in accordance with the active schedule.
Example; your address is listed as being part of Rota Load Block ‘L’
If the example rota below was enacted then you can see that your supply would be scheduled for disconnection during the 3-hour block ‘1’ on a Thursday, ‘6’ on a Saturday, and ‘4’ on a Sunday.
From the second table you can see that the 3-hour period ‘1’ is 0.30am to 3.30am, period ‘4’ is 9.30am to 12.30pm, and period ‘6’ is 3.30pm to 6.30pm.
- a) If the emergency instructions were issued with this rota for a Thursday then you would be off supply from 0.30am to 3.30am that day.
- b) If the emergency instructions were issued for a Friday, you would not be affected at all that day
- c) If the emergency instructions were in place all week, then your supply would be interrupted for 3 hours each, between 0.30am and 3.30am on Thursday, 3.30pm to 6.30pm on Saturday and 9.30am to 12.30pm on Sunday.
