How To Prepare For A Winter Power Cut

This guide contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, Prepper Weekly may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Prices and availability change, so check the latest details before you buy.

Winter is when power cuts hurt most. Storms bring down lines, demand peaks, and when the electricity goes, most homes lose their heating too – even gas central heating needs electricity for the boiler and pump. Combine that with dark afternoons and freezing temperatures, and a long power cut can quickly become dangerous, especially for older people, babies and anyone with a health condition.

This guide covers how to prepare before winter, what to do during a cold-weather power cut, and the seasonal kit worth having.

Before winter: get ready

Sign up to the Priority Services Register with your electricity network operator if anyone in your home is older, disabled, has young children or relies on medical equipment.
Save 105 (power cuts) and 0800 111 999 (gas emergencies) on paper as well as in your phone.
Fit or test a carbon monoxide alarm – a battery one keeps working in a power cut.
Get your chimney swept if you have an open fire or wood burner, and stock up on dry fuel.
Lag pipes in lofts and garages and know where your stopcock is, so you can turn the water off if a pipe freezes and bursts.
Sign up for weather warnings from the Met Office and keep an eye on UKHSA Cold-Health Alerts.

During a winter power cut

Call 105 to report it and find out how long it’s likely to last.
Pick one room to keep warm – ideally a small, south-facing room – close the door and curtains, and block draughts with towels.
Layer up. Several thin layers, a hat, thick socks and gloves keep you warmer than one bulky jumper. Wrap up in blankets or sleeping bags.
Have hot drinks and food if you can safely heat them – a gas hob often still works (light it with a match), and vacuum flasks keep drinks hot for hours.
Keep moving – gentle activity helps you stay warm.
Check on older and vulnerable neighbours.
Know the signs of hypothermia – shivering, confusion, slurred speech, drowsiness – and call 999 if you’re worried.

Never use a gas oven, camping stove, BBQ or patio heater to heat a room. They produce carbon monoxide, which can kill.

Seasonal kit for a winter power cut

Hot water bottles with covers

Best for: safe, cheap warmth

Fill with hot (not boiling) water. Replace rubber bottles every couple of years – check the date mark on the neck.

Check the latest price on Amazon

Vacuum flask

Best for: keeping drinks and soup hot

Fill flasks while the power or gas is on and you’ll have hot drinks for hours afterwards.

Check the latest price on Amazon

Thermal underwear

Best for: staying warm without heating

A thermal base layer under normal clothes makes a big difference in a cold house.

Check the latest price on Amazon

Fleece blankets and a winter sleeping bag

Best for: keeping warm overnight

A good sleeping bag on top of your duvet will keep you warm even in an unheated bedroom.

Check the latest price on Amazon

Battery carbon monoxide alarm

Best for: every home with a boiler, fire or stove

A battery-powered or sealed-battery CO alarm keeps protecting you when the power is off.

Check the latest price on Amazon

Rechargeable LED lantern

Best for: light through long, dark evenings

Much safer than candles. Keep one in each living area and charge them when storms are forecast.

Check the latest price on Amazon

For devices and medical equipment, a portable power station can keep essentials running, and a power bank keeps phones charged. See also our general guide to preparing for a power cut, how to keep warm indoors with no heating and winter prepping emergencies – the basics.

More ideas: staying warm, cooking and boiling water without electricity

You’d have thought that rocketing fuel prices had already taught you how to stay warm, boil water, and do the cooking using minimum energy. A natural or manmade disaster could leave you without any electricity at all – so how will you cope then?

Staying warm

Sheer survival relies on keeping your body temperature between 36.1º and 37.2ºC (around 97–99ºF). If your body temperature drops below 35ºC (95ºF), you’ll suffer hypothermia – a medical emergency that requires the type of hospital treatment you’re unlikely to find if disaster has struck.

The secret to staying warm, therefore, starts with keeping your own body as warm as possible – and only then turning your attention to keeping your home or other place of refuge warm:

keep the extremities warm – and that means woollen socks, gloves, and hat;

wear several layers of thinner clothing rather than attempting a single, bulky item – the air between each layer acts as its own insulation;

thermal underwear can help – but look hard enough and you can also find fleece-lined trousers and leggings;

like a lot of prepping activities, stocking up on warm clothing doesn’t have to involve huge expense – start browsing around second-hand clothes and charity shops to assemble your emergency wardrobe;

keeping the inside of your home warm is also a question of maintaining as much insulation as you can manage – block draughts around windows, doors, up through the gaps in floorboards;

if temperatures within your place of refuge continue to plummet, build an indoor tent or bivouac from blankets draped over a large table – and set it up near the bathroom so you don’t lose further heat travelling in and out of it.

Know the signs of hypothermia – shivering, pale and cold skin, slurred speech, confusion and drowsiness – and call 999 if you think someone has it (see the NHS guide to hypothermia). If you or someone in your household is older, disabled or relies on medical equipment, sign up to your energy network operator’s free Priority Services Register for extra support during power cuts.

Boiling water

When your electricity is down, you will still need to boil water. That’s not just so you can make that proverbial “nice cup of tea” but because it’s also one of the most efficient ways you’ll have of purifying water that’s fit to drink – and when the electricity’s down, your supply of fresh drinking water is also likely to be compromised.

As the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends, when you heat water to a “rolling boil” you’ll deactivate harmful protozoa, viruses, and pathogenic bacteria in it.

Carbon monoxide and fire safety: never use a camping stove, rocket stove, BBQ, patio heater or any other fuel-burning stove or heater indoors, in a tent, or in a garage – they produce carbon monoxide, which is invisible, has no smell and can kill. Only use them outside in a well-ventilated space, away from doors and windows, and make sure you have a working carbon monoxide alarm at home. Never leave a naked flame or candle unattended.

Even though you’ve usually relied on a battery of electrical appliances to boil your water, when the power is down, there are lots of alternatives – with fire or solar power as the primary sources. An article in Primal Survivor on the 14^th of November 2022, suggested some of these alternatives, including:

the outdoor camping gas stove that will be in the basic starter kit of any self-respecting prepper – you’ll find any number to choose from online;

as far as fire is concerned, the most obvious is an open “campfire” or one you can light in the fireplace at home;

if your access to fuel to burn is limited, then a “rocket stove” is one of the most efficient devices that can generate enough heat to boil water even if you’ve only got a few fir cones or twigs to burn;

a can of tuna – or any other food packed in oil – can also be turned into a one-time heat source that will burn for up to 25 minutes (long enough to boil your water) if you put a couple of sheets of toilet paper over the oil, allow the paper to absorb some of the oil, then light the paper;

you might even harness the awesome power of the sun to boil your water – the 4 Patriots Sun Kettle is a little pricey (at just over £100) but promises to boil 17 fluid ounces (0.48 litres or a little less than a pint) in 45 minutes;

if you have access to a car – and the fuel to run the engine – a far less energy-efficient way of boiling water is to plug a small, portable immersion heater element into the cigarette lighter socket (though it will probably take you 50 minutes or so to boil a relatively small volume of water. Only ever run the engine outdoors – never in a garage or enclosed space, where exhaust fumes can quickly build up to deadly levels of carbon monoxide.

Cooking

Your prepped supplies of food are probably going to include rations you can use straight from the can or packet without the need for cooking or even heating up the contents.

When you are facing the constant challenges of an emergency situation, however, hot cooked food is not only nourishing but can also prove a psychological boost to you and the group you’re in. That’s when the lack of power to an electric stove or microwave is going to throw up further challenges.

You’re already part way to having found the solution, of course, when you learnt how to boil water without access to electricity – now you’ll need to go just a step or two further and generate the necessary heat for a little while longer:

once again, the open fire is the most obvious, simplest, and most primitive way of cooking any kind of food;

some cooking can be done at lower temperatures, but for a longer time, than it takes to boil water, so a solar-powered portable camping grill and outdoor oven – such as that made by Juyicai – could be just the ticket;

the rocket stove you made on which to boil water can also be pressed into service for cooking – though you’ll obviously need more fuel, and you can probably only cook the smallest proportions of food at any one time;

all your needs are likely to be met if you were prudent enough to have invested in a camping gas stove – and have also stored sufficient canisters of gas.

Summary

There’s nothing like a manmade or natural disaster to bring home to you just how much you have relied on a constant and reliable source of electricity. When it goes down, you won’t want to be stuck for ideas or left cold, without potable drinking water, and no means of cooking.

Just as with most other areas of prepping, a bit of forethought, ingenuity, and the ability to put into practice things you might have read online or in a book can come to your rescue.

About The Author

Article by the Prepper Weekly editor. Prepper Weekly covers practical, UK-focused preparedness – from emergency planning, power cuts and flooding to food, water, kit and outdoor skills – without the fear-mongering. Find out more about Prepper Weekly.

How To Prepare For A Winter Power Cut

Before winter: get ready

During a winter power cut