The Met Office confirmed the new list of storm names for the 2026/27 season at the start of this month, and meteorological autumn officially arrived on 1 September — bringing an end to what the Met Office itself is calling a remarkable summer, with seasonal temperatures more than 2°C above average and England recording its warmest summer on record. A hot, dry summer followed by the start of a new storm season is exactly the combination that catches Derbyshire homes out electrically: outdoor sockets and fittings that have baked and dried all summer, then get hit with the season's first proper wind and rain.
Why the transition into storm season is the riskiest electrical moment of the year
Electrical faults linked to weather don't usually happen mid-storm — they happen at the transition, when equipment that's been fine in dry conditions suddenly meets sustained rain and wind for the first time in months. A garden socket with a perished seal, an outdoor light fitting with a hairline crack in the housing, a fence-line cable nicked by a strimmer back in July — none of these caused a problem across a dry summer. The first named storm of the season is when they will.
The pre-storm checklist for Derbyshire homes
Run through this before the season's first amber or yellow warning lands, not during it:
- Test your RCD (the button marked 'T' or 'Test' on your consumer unit) — it should trip the circuit immediately; if it doesn't, that's a call to us before the weather turns
- Check outdoor socket covers close fully and aren't cracked or perished from summer sun
- Look for any cable — to a shed, summerhouse, or outdoor light — that's exposed, buried too shallow, or shows any nicks or wear
- Know where your consumer unit is and make sure nothing is stacked in front of it, in case you need to isolate a circuit quickly
- If you rely on medical equipment or have vulnerable household members, consider a battery backup or know your nearest neighbour with power if there's an outage
What to do if the power goes out or you suspect storm damage
If you lose power in a storm, check whether it's just your property (a tripped RCD, a local fault) or the wider street — if it's the wider area, report it to your Distribution Network Operator, not us, since that's a network issue rather than something inside the property. If your own lights or sockets fail while neighbours still have power, that's ours to look at. Never go near a fallen power line, and never attempt to reset a tripped RCD if there's standing water anywhere near the affected circuit — call us instead.
"The fault that causes a storm-season emergency call almost always existed quietly all summer. A five-minute RCD test before the first named storm finds it while it's still a five-minute fix."
When it's genuinely a Cor call tonight
Call us straight away if you smell burning near a socket or the consumer unit, if an RCD won't reset after you've unplugged everything, if there's any sign of water getting into electrical fittings, or if you've lost power and a neighbour hasn't. Cor's engineers cover Derby and Derbyshire 24/7, and storm season is exactly when that matters most.
Get ahead of storm season
Cor's electricians cover Derby and Derbyshire 24/7 — book a pre-storm RCD and consumer unit check now, or call us the moment something trips.
Published by Kirk Group Editorial
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