Power cut in Ealing or Hounslow: why your network is SSEN, not UK Power Networks

Most guides to London power cuts tell you to call UK Power Networks. That is right for most of the city, but not all of it. If you live in Ealing, Hounslow or Hillingdon, your local network is run by a different company. Knowing this saves you a wasted search when the lights go out.

Who runs the network in west London

The cables, substations and main fuses that bring power to your street belong to a distribution network operator, often shortened to DNO. Your energy supplier is a separate company that sells you the electricity and sends the bill.

In an answer to the London Assembly, the Mayor’s office stated that “Hounslow, Ealing and Hillingdon” are “served by the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN)”. The rest of London, including nearby Harrow, Brent and Richmond, is served by UK Power Networks.

Area	Network operator	How to report a power cut
Ealing (W5, W7, W13, W3, Greenford, Southall)	SSEN	105 or SSEN’s website
Hounslow (TW3, TW4, TW7, Chiswick W4)	SSEN	105 or SSEN’s website
Hillingdon	SSEN	105 or SSEN’s website
Most other London boroughs	UK Power Networks	105, 0800 31 63 105 or the UKPN power cut map

Borough edges do not always follow the cables. A street near the Ealing and Brent border, for example, may be fed from either side. That is why 105 is the simplest number to remember. It is free and connects you to the operator for your postcode.

First, is it a power cut at all?

Before you call anyone, check whether the problem is the network or your own home.

• Look outside. Are street lights and neighbours’ homes lit?
• In a flat, check whether the communal hallway lights are on.
• If everyone is off, it is almost certainly a network fault. Call 105.
• If only you are off, go to your consumer unit, the box of switches that controls your circuits.

Our general guide, power cut or a fault in your home, walks through these checks in order.

Ealing and Hounslow housing and what it means

West London has its own mix of homes. Figures from the VOA council tax stock of properties show:

• In Ealing, 28.2% of homes were built before 1919 and 30.1% between 1919 and 1939. More than half (54.0%) are flats.
• In Hounslow, 28.5% of homes date from 1919 to 1939, and 20.3% were built from 2000 onwards. Almost half (49.2%) are flats.

That means two very different sets of electrics. Edwardian houses in Ealing Broadway and Pitshanger, and Victorian streets in Chiswick, have usually been rewired, sometimes more than once. The quality of that work varies. The 1930s semis of Greenford, Perivale, Hounslow and Feltham often have later wiring mixed with older runs in lofts and under floors. Newer riverside flats in Brentford have modern consumer units, but they sit in large blocks where the supply runs through shared risers, the vertical cable routes inside the building.

When a single home loses power in these areas, the cause is often one of these:

• an RCD that trips when an older circuit leaks a little current to earth
• a loose connection in a consumer unit fitted decades ago
• water from a flat above getting into a light fitting
• a fault on the cable between the meter and the consumer unit

When to call SSEN and when to call an electrician

SSEN is responsible for everything up to and including the main fuse, called the cutout, and the network cables. Your meter belongs to your supplier or meter operator. Everything after the meter, the cables to your consumer unit and all your circuits, is your responsibility, or your landlord’s if you rent.

Call 105 if:

• your street or block is off
• your whole home is off and every switch in the consumer unit is up
• you see damage to the cutout, the cable coming into your home, or street equipment

Call an electrician if:

• the street has power and a switch in your consumer unit keeps tripping
• one part of the house is off and the rest works
• you smell burning or see scorching near sockets, switches or the consumer unit

Our no power in the house service covers these faults across west London. An electrician will test the circuits before restoring power, rather than just resetting the switch and leaving.

While you wait in a power cut

• Switch off cookers, heaters and irons so they do not come back on unattended.
• Leave one light switched on so you can tell when power returns.
• Use torches rather than candles.
• If anyone at home relies on powered medical equipment, ask about the Priority Services Register. Our guide to the Priority Services Register explains how it works.

Ealing and Hounslow area pages

Our area pages have more detail on local housing and the faults it tends to produce. Read the Ealing page or the Hounslow and Chiswick page. Wherever you are in west London, the order is the same: look outside, call 105 if the street is off, and check your consumer unit if it is just you.