How to Prepare for a Power Cut This Winter

UK winters bring storms, and storms bring power cuts — whether it's a few hours after high winds bring down a local line, or longer if a named storm does real damage to the network. October to March is consistently the highest-risk stretch for unplanned outages across the UK.

The good news is that a small amount of kit, sorted out now, makes a real difference when the lights go out: something to see by, something to keep your phone charged, and a way to hear what's going on. None of it needs to be expensive or complicated.

Here's what's worth having in the house before winter sets in properly - Maplin have all the tech you need.

A phone torch is fine for five minutes; it's not fine for a three-hour power cut when you also need that battery for calls and updates. A dedicated LED torch, kept charged and somewhere you can find it in the dark (by the door, not the bottom of a drawer), should be the first thing on the list.

Rechargeable lithium models are worth the small extra cost over disposable-battery torches: top them up every few months and they're ready instantly, with no dead batteries to discover halfway through a blackout. A lantern-style light is worth adding too, since it lights a whole room rather than a single beam, which matters if you're cooking, finding things, or just trying to make a dark evening feel normal.

Browse torches and lanterns today to make sure you're prepared.

During a power cut, your phone is your torch, your radio, your way to check the outage map, and your way to call someone if you need to. A power bank that's actually charged before the storm hits is one of the highest-value bits of kit on this list.

As a rule of thumb, a 10,000mAh power bank will fully recharge most phones two to three times over, which comfortably covers a power cut lasting a day or so. If you also want to keep a tablet or a laptop topped up, look at a larger 20,000mAh-plus model. Whatever size you choose, the habit that matters most is keeping it charged year-round, not just remembering it the week a storm is forecast.

See our full power bank buying guide, or browse our full range of power banks.

For anything beyond phones and torches — a WiFi router so you can still get online, a laptop, a CPAP machine or other medical equipment, a small fridge — a power bank isn't enough. This is where a portable power station earns its keep: essentially a large rechargeable battery with proper mains sockets and USB ports built in, so you plug your existing devices straight into it.

Charge it up in advance (ideally whenever a storm warning is issued) and it'll keep essentials running for hours rather than minutes during a power cut. If you need to run something directly from a car or leisure battery instead, a power inverter converts that DC power into the mains AC that ordinary appliances expect.

Browse portable power stations and power inverters to be fully prepared for every situation.

Torches, radios and smoke alarms still mostly run on ordinary AA, AAA and 9V batteries, so it's worth keeping a small stock of each rather than discovering you're out at 9pm in the dark during a power cut. A pack of rechargeables plus a charger is the cheaper long-term option if you'll be using them regularly; keep a few reliable alkaline batteries as backup for things you don't want to risk running flat, like smoke alarms.

Browse rechargeable batteries and 9V batteries, or read our common battery questions guide.

Mobile networks and broadband routers can be affected by the same outage that's cut your power, and even when they're not, you'll want to save your phone battery for calls rather than constant refreshing. A battery-powered radio is the low-tech answer: it gives you local news, weather and outage updates without touching your phone or needing mains power at all.

It's worth keeping one somewhere accessible with spare batteries alongside it, so it's genuinely ready to go during a power cut rather than another thing to hunt for by torchlight.

Check out the IONOS Almere Emergency Wind Up Radio or explore our full range of radios.

If a power cut drags on for more than a day — which does happen after severe storms — having a way to recharge your power bank or power station without mains electricity becomes genuinely useful rather than a nice-to-have. Portable solar panels, paired with a portable power station, let you keep trickle-charging your essential devices even while the grid is still down, using whatever daylight there is.

Winter sun in the UK is weak, so don't expect a full recharge in a few hours, but even a partial top-up can be the difference between a phone that's on and one that's dead by evening.

Read our guide to plug-in solar panels for UK households. for a longer term solution, or explore our range of portable solar power solutions.

• A charged LED torch (plus a lantern for whole-room light)
• A power bank, charged and ready to use
• A stock of AA, AAA and 9V batteries, or rechargeables and a battery charger
• A battery-powered radio, with spare batteries
• A portable power station for routers, laptops or medical equipment
• A portable solar panel, if you want a way to top up during a longer cut

One habit ties all of it together: when a storm warning goes up, charge everything that charges — power bank, power station, spare batteries — before the wind does, not after.

None of this needs to happen all at once, and it doesn't need to be expensive. Pick up one or two things now, and add to it over the next few weeks — by the time the first proper storm of winter hits, you'll barely think about it. Explore Maplin's full Power & Solar range to get started.