Can They Cut Off the Electricity Without Notice? What Types of Power Outages Exist?

Customer Experience at i-DE

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.

By Laura Hernández Fernández

Customer Experience at i-DE

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

How many days in advance do they notify me about the power cut?

The distributor is required to notify at least 48 hours in advance in the event of a scheduled power cut for maintenance, works, or other reasons related to the maintenance and operation of the networks.

How many notices do they give me before cutting off the electricity?

If a customer does not pay the electricity bill to their supplier, the supply cannot be cut off without prior notice.

First, the supplier sends a first notification at the end of the bill payment period. This notification is usually received by postal mail (within a maximum of 2 months from the payment date).
After this notice, if the payment is not made, the supplier will send a second formal non-payment notification, usually by burofax or certified letter. In this notification, they warn about the intention to cut off the supply and specify a specific date.
If the payment is still not made, a third notification will be sent by burofax or certified letter announcing the effective interruption of the electricity supply.

How many unpaid bills before they cut off the electricity?

A single unpaid bill is enough for the supplier to initiate the process of interrupting the supply. Every customer has up to 20 business days to pay their bill.

How long does it take to reconnect the electricity once the bill is paid?

After a power cut due to non-payment, once the existing debt has been settled, the supply will be restored within a maximum of 24 hours from the time the payment is made and the supplier has notified the distributor. If the supplier has canceled the electricity contract, the user will need to request a new electricity supply setup. This process can take several days.