Two-thirds of UK residents have experienced a power cut in their local area, with the average length of a typical outage being two-and-a-half hours, new data has revealed.
A survey by comparison service UK Power set out to explore the impact of power cuts on consumers and specifically, how they impact different areas of the UK.
In total 66% said they had experienced a power cut, with 23% experiencing this on an annual basis and 10% stating this happens every six to 10 months.
Glasgow was the city which experienced the longest average power cuts at 3 hours 6 mins, while London and Cardiff closely followed at 2 hours 54 mins. Leeds meanwhile had an average of 2 hours 48 mins.
Nottingham and Belfast were found to be the places with the shortest outages, with power cuts in these cities lasting 1 hour 48 mins on average.
The most common time for outages was 9:54 am, but the East of England (8:40 am) and Greater London (8:35 am) encountered issues well before the national average.
Furthermore, the research found, Belfast’s power outages occurred – on average – at 1:08pm, the latest out of any city examined.
Commenting on the survey Philip Brennan, managing director at UK Power, said: ‘’Our investigation into power cuts has allowed us to visualise how different regions experience loss of power throughout the year.
“Overall, the study yielded some fascinating statistics – including the average length of these power cuts in different areas of the UK. It was also valuable to learn how these blackouts directly affect residents.
‘’We found it intriguing to learn that the most common time for these outages to take place was in the morning or early afternoon. It was reassuring to see that over half of residents surveyed stated they believed their supplier responded in a prompt and acceptable manner.’’
It comes as Ofgem recently increased the cap on compensation for customers who experience power outages as a result of severe weather events.
Under the new rules customers will be entitled to claim up to £2,000 from electricity networks, up from the current £700 maximum.
Ofgem has also reduced the time customers have to wait before receiving additional recompense.