As the government asks every household to prepareThree books in one · £27
Ken Whitlock · Forty years in a power station

I spent 40 years keeping the lights on. Here’s exactly what to do when they go off.

The government is asking every household in Britain to prepare for emergencies. You’re right to take it seriously, and you don’t need to be frightened. Blackout Ready explains what really happens in a power cut, and gives you a simple plan you can start this weekend for about £20.

Get Blackout Ready · £27What happens in a blackout
Written for people over 65
Large print, A4, easy to print
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Portrait of Ken Whitlock in his flat cap and waxed jacket

Most of what frightens people about a blackout is not knowing what will happen. Once you know, it’s just a job to be done.

Ken Whitlock · West Yorkshire
You’re not being daft

Every worry people bring me has a plain, practical answer.

These are the questions my friends and neighbours ask me. Every one of them is answered in the book, step by step.

“What if the heating stops and it’s freezing?”

It will stop: almost every boiler needs electricity. Volume II shows you how to turn one room into a warm room, how to sleep warm, and which heaters are safe.

“What if I can’t call for help?”

Most landlines now die in a power cut, and many pendant alarms do too. I show you what to ask your provider, and how to set up a check-in that works with no phone at all.

“What about my medicines and equipment?”

Oxygen, stairlifts, riser chairs, air mattresses, insulin, CPAP. Volume III gives you the questions to ask, and the plan to make, before the lights ever go.

“What if the shops are empty?”

A two-week food box built from your normal shopping, a little at a time, with food you can eat cold if you have to. No buckets, no fuss.

“What if I’m on my own?”

A simple plan for living alone, two cut-out window cards your neighbours will understand, and a daily check-in your family can rely on.

“Won’t it cost a fortune?”

No. Five jobs, two hours and about £20 this weekend puts you ahead of most of the country. Everything else is a little at a time, by budget.

An older couple warm under a blanket on the sofa, with a lantern, a radio and a flask, during a power cut

This is what ready looks like. Not a bunker. One warm room, a lantern, a radio and a flask.

From the inside

What actually happens to your house, hour by hour.

When you know what fails, in what order, and how long it usually lasts, a blackout stops being a monster in the dark. This is the timetable from Volume I.

Ken in the dark with a head torch, checking the fuse box
The first minutes

Heating, electric cooker, router and most landlines stop. So do many pendant alarms.

You: torch, fuse box, ring 105, radio on.

The first hours

The fridge stops keeping food cold. The house cools. Mobile signal may go. Shops go cash-only.

You: warm room, fill water, save your phone.

Night one

Cold, dark and quiet. The highest risk of carbon monoxide accidents and falls.

You: everyone in one room, hats on, CO alarm checked.

Day two

The freezer starts to thaw. Water pressure can drop in some places.

You: cook what’s thawing, use stored water, check neighbours.

Days three to five

Shops struggle to restock. Help reaches the vulnerable. Power comes back.

You: store cupboard, slow down, switch on one thing at a time.

3 hrs

The length of each slot in a planned rota power cut. You’d get a timetable in advance.

60%

Of electricity demand to be restored within 24 hours in every region, after the worst case.

5 days

To restore everyone nationally. That’s the window the book gets you ready for.

3 litres

Of drinking water per person per day. Keep at least three days of it in.

Sources: the government’s Electricity Supply Emergency Code (rota cuts), the Electricity System Restoration Standard (restoration targets) and the government’s emergency preparedness checklist (water).

What’s inside

Three books, ten cut-out cards, one plan.

Every chapter ends with a short checklist, so you always know what to do next and can see how far you’ve come.

Volume I

What the Grid Engineer Knows

How it works, how it fails, and how it comes back.
  • 01Why the government is right to warn you
  • 02How the grid works, and the three ways it fails
  • 03What happens to your house, hour by hour
  • 04Planned rota power cuts, and how to find your letter
  • 05How the power comes back, and the honest answer to “how long?”
  • 06The questions people ask me
  • 07Then and now: what the 1970s taught us
Volume II

The Simple Plan

What to do, in what order, starting this weekend.
  • 01Five jobs, two hours, about £20
  • 02Staying warm when the boiler stops
  • 03Water: how much, and how to keep it
  • 04A two-week food store from your normal shopping
  • 05Light, power banks and power stations
  • 06News, money, the car and the little things
  • 07What to buy, by budget
Volume III

The People You’re Worried About

The part nobody else writes about.
  • 01If you live alone
  • 02Looking after a partner who is unwell
  • 03Medicines, oxygen and powered equipment
  • 04Spotting someone getting too cold, and preventing falls
  • 05Your neighbours
  • 06The conversation to have with your family
  • 07When to ring 999, 111, and when to leave

Plus ten cut-out cards for the fridge door

  • The First Hour Card
  • What Fails, and When
  • Our Household Plan
  • Medicines and Equipment
  • Rota Power Cut Planner
  • The Two-Week Food Box
  • The Shopping List
  • Before the Weather Turns
  • Window card: I’M OK
  • Window card: PLEASE KNOCK
Start this weekend

Five jobs. Two hours. About £20.

This is Chapter 1 of Volume II. Do just these, and you’re already better prepared than most of the country.

Know your house

Fuse box, stopcock, gas lever, and your rota letter from your electricity bill.

Light in every room

A head torch each, a torch by the bed and the door, dated batteries.

Three days of water

3 litres per person per day, dated, somewhere cool and dark.

Cash in the house

Small notes. Card machines and cash points stop without power.

Join the register

The free Priority Services Register. Ten minutes on the phone.

A head torch, torch, batteries, bottled water, radio, power bank, lantern, flask, hot water bottle and tins laid out on a kitchen table
Never on your own

A plan for the people you worry about.

Volume III is the part nobody else writes: living alone, caring for a partner, oxygen, stairlifts and pendant alarms, and how a whole street can look after each other with no phone signal at all.

A green I’M OK card propped in a frosty front window
The window cardGreen card in the window by ten each morning. Your neighbours know you’re fine without knocking. Both cards are in the back of the book.
Ken handing a flask and a lantern to an elderly neighbour at her door on a frosty evening
The daily knockA flask, a lantern and five minutes on the doorstep. The cheapest and most important kit you have is next door.
Ken Whitlock standing in a field with power station cooling towers and pylons behind him
About the author

Ken Whitlock.

I was fifteen during the three-day week, doing my homework by candlelight. Two years later I started as an apprentice at a coal-fired power station in West Yorkshire, and I stayed for forty years: apprentice, fitter, shift engineer, and the last stretch in the control room, until the last unit was switched off.

When the government started asking every household to prepare, my phone started ringing. Friends, neighbours, people in the post office: “Ken, should we be worried?” This book is what I tell them, written down in order, for an ordinary home and an ordinary pension.

You’re right to take it seriously. You don’t need to be frightened.
Get the books

£27 once. Yours to keep.

One download, the moment you pay. Read it on a tablet or computer, or print it at home: it’s set in large type on A4 paper, so it’s easy on the eyes.

Blackout Ready by Ken Whitlock, book cover
Volume I: What the Grid Engineer Knows£29
Volume II: The Simple Plan, with a checklist for every chapter£29
Volume III: The People You’re Worried About£29
The ten cut-out cards, ready to print and fill in£19
The budget shopping lists: Kit 1, Kit 2 and Kit 3£9
Total value£115
You pay today£27
Get Blackout Ready · £27
Secure checkout · Instant download · Everything in one PDF
30-day guarantee.If it’s not for you, email within 30 days and every penny comes back. No forms, no questions.
Questions

What people ask before they buy.

Is a big blackout actually going to happen?

Nobody honest can tell you that. A national blackout has never happened in Great Britain, and the system is built to prevent one. Long local power cuts from storms do happen, and the government is asking everyone to prepare. Being ready for five days at home covers you for all of it.

I’m in my seventies. Is this really for me?

It was written for you. Everything in it can be done by one person who isn’t as nimble as they were, on an ordinary pension, at the kitchen table. Large type, short chapters, and a checklist at the end of each one.

I live alone. What difference will it make?

A lot. Volume III has a whole chapter on living alone, with a daily check-in plan, two window cards for your neighbours, and how to avoid the biggest danger, which is a fall in the dark.

Do I need to spend a lot of money?

No. The first five jobs cost about £20. The rest is split into three kits by budget, and the food box is built a little at a time from your normal shopping. There’s a list of things not to waste your money on, too.

Do I need a generator?

For most households, no, and I explain why. A generator used wrongly is genuinely dangerous. The book shows you safer, quieter options.

Is the health part medical advice?

No. It covers what a household should keep, know and ask. For your own medicines and equipment, it tells you exactly which questions to ask your GP, pharmacist and suppliers.

How do I get it?

It downloads the moment you pay, as one PDF with all three books and the ten cut-out cards. You can read it on a tablet or computer, or print it on an ordinary home printer.

What if it’s not for me?

Email within 30 days and you get every penny back. No forms, no questions.

Before the weather turns

Be the calm one on your street when the lights go out.

Three books, ten cut-out cards and a plan you can start this weekend. £27 once, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Get Blackout Ready · £27