Can They Cut Off the Electricity Without Notice? What Types of Power Outages Exist?
Expert in the energy sector with over 17 years of experience in the Iberdrola Group. Chemical Engineer and customer enthusiast, she began her professional career at i-DE in 2007 in the area of standardization and maintenance of power transformers, and in 2018 she sought a change towards the customer, starting in the Customer Experience Department, where she has directly participated in the creation and implementation of the Voice of the Customer at i-DE.
If you're wondering whether they can cut off the electricity without notice, the answer is yes. However, regulations clearly state that this should only happen in specific cases.
Power supply interruptions can occur for various reasons, and only in some cases can we notify you in advance:
Power outages with prior notice:
- Power outages due to scheduled work for maintenance tasks on the electrical grid.
- Power outages due to non-payment.
Power outages without prior notice:
- Power outages due to a fault in your particular installation.
- Power outages due to an incident in the electrical grid.
- Power outages due to irregularities in the electrical installation.
Focusing on those power outages without prior notice, in the first two cases, the power outage is caused by an incident, and regardless of its origin (particular installation or the company's electrical grid), the power outage will occur without receiving prior notice from the electricity company. This is because incidents are unforeseen events and, therefore, cannot be predicted.
In the last case, it may be due to our technical services identifying an illegal connection to our grid or unauthorized tampering with the electricity meter. Illegal connections to the electrical grid and tampering with meters pose a high risk to the safety and physical integrity of people, as they are carried out outside the law and current technical regulations, without the necessary safety requirements. For this reason, the distribution company can cut off the supply without prior notice.
How to know the reason for the power outage?
In this situation, the first thing you should do is determine if the power outage is only in your home or if it also affects other neighbors in your area or building. This is important to better understand the magnitude of the problem and take appropriate measures.
Does the power outage only affect me or also other neighbors in my area?
To verify if the power outage is exclusive to your home or business, we recommend following these steps:
1.- Check if the switches/circuit breakers in your main panel are up.
- If any are down, reset them. If this is not possible, it is most likely a particular fault.
- If all are up, we recommend resetting the ICP of your meter by following these steps.
2.- Check if your neighbors or nearby family members are also affected by the power outage.
If the power outage only affects you
If only you are affected by the power outage, these may be the main reasons:
Power outages due to a fault in your particular installation
If the fault is in your particular installation, you can resolve it by contacting:
- The maintenance service of your supplier, if you have it contracted.
- A qualified electrician.
- Your distribution company. In the case of i-DE, you can contact us through the toll-free number 900 171 171. Available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Power outages due to non-payment
Customers have a maximum period of 20 business days to pay the electricity bill once it is issued and received. If the bill is not paid after this period, the supplier initiates a process of formal notifications to inform the customer of the start of the procedure to cut off the electricity supply. From the receipt of the first notice, 2 months must pass before the supply is cut off.
Power outages due to irregularities in the electrical installation
In these cases, the distribution company will notify you about this outage and the steps to follow to regularize this situation.
If the power outage affects other neighbors in your area
In these cases, the origin of the power outage may be:
Power outages due to an incident in the electrical grid
At i-DE, we continuously work to prevent incidents from occurring. However, despite maintenance and improvement tasks, it is inevitable that they happen. In this video, you can learn about the main reasons why these faults occur.
When there is an incident in our grid, we proceed to locate it to restore the service as soon as possible. Depending on the type of incident, we may take more or less time to resolve it. Thanks to smart grids and automated systems, sometimes we can resolve the incident in a matter of minutes. However, in other cases, it is necessary for our technicians to travel to the area to repair it.
In these cases, we will inform you of the resolution forecast through our Outage Map or through our free notification system. You can sign up in our Private Area.
Power outages due to scheduled work for maintenance tasks on the electrical grid.
If it is necessary to interrupt the electricity supply to carry out maintenance work, we will inform you 24 hours in advance of the start of the outage through announcement posters in the affected portals with the estimated outage schedule. Also, through email or SMS, if you are registered in our free notification system.
You can also access this information through the Scheduled Outages on our website.
Expert in the energy sector with over 17 years of experience in the Iberdrola Group. Chemical Engineer and customer enthusiast, she began her professional career at i-DE in 2007 in the area of standardization and maintenance of power transformers, and in 2018 she sought a change towards the customer, starting in the Customer Experience Department, where she has directly participated in the creation and implementation of the Voice of the Customer at i-DE.
FAQs
¿Con cuántos días de antelación me avisan sobre el corte de luz?
La distribuidora tiene la obligación de notificar con al menos 48 horas de anticipación en caso de que se produzca un corte de energía eléctrica programado, por motivos de obras, mantenimiento u otras razones relacionadas con el mantenimiento y operación de las redes.
¿Cuántos avisos me dan antes de cortarme la luz?
Si un cliente no paga la factura de electricidad a su comercializadora, el suministro no puede ser cortado sin previo aviso.
- En primer lugar, la comercializadora envía una primera notificación al finalizar el plazo de pago de la factura. Por lo general, esta notificación se recibe por correo postal (en un plazo máximo de 2 meses sobre la fecha de pago).
- Si, después de este aviso, el pago no se realiza, la comercializadora enviará una segunda notificación de impago fehaciente, generalmente mediante burofax o carta certificada. En esta notificación, se advierte sobre la intención de cortar el suministro y especifica una fecha concreta.
- Si, aun así, el pago no se efectúa, se enviará una tercera notificación mediante burofax o carta certificada en la que se anuncia la interrupción efectiva del suministro eléctrico.
¿Con cuántas facturas impagadas te cortan la luz?
Una única factura sin abonar es suficiente para que la comercializadora inicie el proceso de interrupción del suministro. Todo cliente tiene hasta 20 días hábiles para afrontar el pago de su factura.
¿Cuánto tiempo tardan en reconectar la luz una vez pagada la factura?
Tras realizarse un corte de luz debido por impago, y una vez que se haya saldado la deuda existente, el suministro se restablecerá en un plazo máximo de 24 horas desde que se haya realizado el pago y la comercializadora haya avisado a la distribuidora. En caso de que la comercializadora haya cancelado el contrato de electricidad, el usuario deberá solicitar un nuevo alta de suministro eléctrico. Este proceso puede tardar varios días.
