It is a Friday night in October, the site is full, and the lights go out. Every campsite power cut follows the same pattern: the phone rings, torches appear across the field, and guests look to you for answers. A bit of planning turns that moment from a scramble into a routine. Here is how I would set up a UK campsite to cope, whether you run a five van CL or a larger touring park.

Most outages last under an hour. Some, usually after a storm, run for a day or more. You need a plan that works for both.

Know what a campsite power cut actually affects

Start by walking through the site in your head and listing everything that needs electricity. The obvious one is the hook ups, but the list is longer than most owners expect.

Write the list down and keep a copy somewhere that does not depend on the power. A printed sheet in the site office does the job.

Check the cause before you do anything else

Not every outage is a grid failure. Before you tell guests the whole area is down, check three things.

  1. Look at the nearby houses and roads. If their lights are on, the problem is likely yours.
  2. Check your consumer unit and the trip switches on the hook up posts. One faulty caravan or an overloaded circuit can trip a whole section.
  3. If the area is dark, call 105. It is the free national number for power cuts in the UK, and it puts you through to your local network operator. You can report the cut, get an estimated restoration time and ask about priority for vulnerable customers.

If a trip keeps tripping, do not keep resetting it. Isolate the circuit and find the fault. Our guide to campsite electrical safety testing explains why regular checks catch these problems before a busy weekend does.

Talk to your guests early and honestly

People cope far better with a power cut when they know what is happening. Silence is what makes them cross. Within ten minutes of the lights going out, you should have said something.

What to tell them

A walk round the pitches with a torch is old fashioned, but it works. For larger sites, a text or email to everyone currently staying saves you knocking on forty doors. If your booking system holds mobile numbers and email addresses, you can message the whole site in a couple of minutes. That is exactly what guest communication tools are for, and our post on campsite guest communication has more on tone and timing.

Look after vulnerable guests first

Some guests cannot simply wait it out. People who use oxygen concentrators, CPAP machines, powered mobility equipment or who keep medication in a fridge may have a real problem within hours.

Ask at check in whether anyone on your site relies on electricity for medical reasons, and make a note against the booking. Then in an outage you know straight away who to visit first. If you can offer a spare pitch on a different circuit, a generator supported point or a heated room, do it. When the situation is serious, the right answer is to call 999 or help them reach somewhere safe, not to hope the power returns.

This is a good reason to keep good arrival records. With check in and out tracking you can see at a glance who is on site tonight, which pitch they are on and any note you have recorded.

Generators and backup power

A small generator can keep the office, router and a toilet block light running. It cannot power a whole site, and you should not try. Sizing and installing backup properly is a job for a qualified electrician.

Some rules worth following:

Guests with their own generators are a separate matter. Make sure your rules are clear before something happens. Our campsite generator policy guide covers noise, siting and safety.

Low cost kit that makes a big difference

You do not need to spend much. A small outage box kept in the office should hold:

Check the box at the start of every season and again before winter. Dead batteries are the most common reason it fails.

Keep taking bookings and payments when the router is down

A power cut is rarely the end of trading. Mobile data still works on most sites, and a phone can run as a hotspot. Cloud booking software keeps working from a phone even when your office computer is dead, which is a big advantage over a diary or spreadsheet that lives on one machine. You can read more in our post on how to manage your campsite from your phone.

If card payments fail, do not turn guests away. Note their details and take payment later, or use a mobile card reader that does not need your router. Our guide to card payments with no signal has some useful workarounds.

Write it down and tell your staff

A plan only helps if people know it exists. Put your power cut routine on a single page: who to call, who tells the guests, where the torches are, how to release the gates. Share it with anyone who works on site, including seasonal and weekend staff. The same page can sit alongside your emergency evacuation plan and your storm preparedness checklist, because the two often arrive together.

It is also worth checking that your campsite insurance covers loss of income and spoiled stock if an outage forces you to close, and what you need to record to make a claim.

The takeaway

A campsite power cut is not really about the electricity. It is about how quickly you find out what has failed, how clearly you tell your guests, and how well you look after the people who depend on power. Know what runs on electricity, call 105, message guests early, keep a simple outage box and write the plan down. Do that and the next time the lights go out, you will be the calm one in the field.

If you want guest details, arrival lists and messaging in one place that still works from your phone, start with CampSuite for free. Setup takes about 15 minutes, and you can see the pricing to find the right plan for your site.

Rob