Vital electricity safety advice for customers returning to flooded homes

If your home or business has been flooded, the internal wiring needs to be thoroughly checked by an expert, once the water has receded.

If your property has been flooded, please follow these electricity safety steps:

Check your internal wiring

• Regardless of whether your power has been switched on or off while your property has been flooded, you need to get your internal wiring checked by an approved electrician. This is especially important where flood water has been above the level of electrical equipment within the property.
• You will need to ensure you use a qualified electrician. Please check the local Yellow Pages for an approved electrician and ensure they are ‘Part P – Buildings Regulations’ registered if they need to replace internal wiring.
• Avoid touching electrical equipment that has been in contact with water and avoid plugging it in until it has been inspected by an electrician.

Your mains electricity supply

• We may need to check the incoming electricity supply in homes which have been flooded.
• Our engineers will be working in the areas of flooding to complete these checks once the water levels have receded.
• Please advise your neighbours who have not returned to a property which was flooded that we may require access to carry out this safety check.
• If our mains equipment has been damaged by the flood waters, we may need to do some repair work which could result in a short power interruption to neighbouring homes. We will do everything we can to keep any disruption to a minimum.

Your electricity meter

• If your meter has been underwater or damaged by the flood waters you need to get it checked by your electricity supplier. A representative from your supplier will inspect the meter. Please check your latest electricity bill to find out who your supplier is.

Emergency Helplines

• If you need further information or advice, please call our Emergency Loss of Supply Helpline :-East region 0800 056 8090 and for the west 0800 328 1111.
• If you are a single property still without an electricity supply, please call the same number to report the power loss and receive safety advice.
• To find a registered electrician or obtain information on testing your electrical equipment, call the Electrical Safety Council on 0870 040 561 or go to http://www.esc.org.uk/.
• For general flood advice ring the Environment Agency Floodline 0845 988 1188.