Power Up Your Home with VoltReady™: The Smart Way to Stay Connected During UK Power Cuts

Think about the last time the power went off. The lights clicked off mid-sentence, the boiler stopped, the Wi-Fi vanished, and the whole house fell quiet. For a few minutes it’s almost fun. Then the chill sets in, the kids get restless, your phone battery drops, and suddenly it’s not so funny.

Now picture a different version of that moment. The street is dark, but your home is still glowing. The router is on, the TV is running, you’ve put the kettle on, and your phone is happily charging away. That’s the difference a simple home backup power kit can make — and it’s exactly what VoltReady is built for.

In this guide, we’ll walk through how to put together a practical backup setup for a typical UK home, using compact but powerful portable power stations and a few smart extras. Nothing overly technical, just clear steps and real-world examples so you can feel quietly confident before the next blackout.

Why having backup power in the UK actually matters

The UK isn’t exactly famous for rock-solid weather or a bulletproof grid. Winter storms, high winds, planned maintenance, random faults — they all add up. Most of the time power is restored fairly quickly, but it only takes one bad evening for you to realise how dependent you are on electricity for the basics:

• Staying warm and safe.
• Keeping the internet on for work, school, and entertainment.
• Protecting food in the fridge and freezer.
• Charging phones so you can contact family or emergency services.

A backup power kit doesn’t turn your home into a full off-grid bunker. It simply gives you breathing room. A way to carry on with the essentials when the grid takes a break. Once you’ve experienced that once, you won’t want to go back.

What a simple home backup power kit looks like

You don’t need a garage full of gear. For most households, a solid starter kit looks something like this:

• Portable power station – A compact unit that stores energy and gives you standard UK plug sockets, USB ports, and 12 V outputs.
• Charging options – The standard mains charger plus the option to top up from your car or from solar panels.
• Extension leads and adapters – So you can park the power station somewhere safe and still reach the devices you care about.
• Short “essentials” list – Wi-Fi router, phones, a few lights, maybe the fridge or a small heater depending on the size of your unit.
• Quick test routine – Every few months you plug a few things in, run the station for a bit, and make sure everything behaves as expected.

That’s it. No rewiring. No electrician. Just a dependable box of power that’s ready to go when your main supply isn’t.

How to work out what size you actually need

This is the bit that trips most people up, but it’s easier than it looks. Start with the devices you’d want to run during a cut. For example:

• Wi-Fi router and modem – roughly 20–30 W.
• LED lighting in a couple of rooms – around 30–60 W.
• Phone and tablet charging – roughly 10–40 W in total.
• Fridge freezer – often 60–120 W on average once running.

Add those numbers together and you’ll get a rough total in watts. Then decide how long you’d like to keep them going. The simple rule of thumb is:

Watts (W) × hours (h) ≈ watt-hours (Wh) of battery capacity you need.

So if your total comes to 300 W and you want around five hours of backup, you’re looking at roughly 1500 Wh. You don’t have to get this perfect, just close enough that your station isn’t wildly undersized.

If you’d rather avoid the maths, you can use the VoltReady Backup Power Calculator. Pop in the devices you want to run and it will suggest a suitable setup for you.

Real-world examples using VoltReady favourites

To make it concrete, here’s how a few popular options in the VoltReady range fit into everyday life:

• Bluetti EB3A – A compact 268 Wh / 600 W unit that’s perfect for keeping Wi-Fi, phones, and a couple of lamps running through shorter cuts. Great for flats, student houses, or anyone who wants something small but surprisingly capable.
• Bluetti AC60P – A step up in capacity, giving you more breathing room for things like laptops and small kitchen appliances. Ideal for working from home during outages or taking away in a campervan when you’re not.
• Bluetti AC200P L – A serious 2,304 Wh / 2,400 W workhorse that can support bigger loads and longer events. Think full-size fridge, more lighting, and extended runtime when you really don’t want the house to miss a beat.

All three share the same basic advantages: quiet operation, no fumes, and instant power at the push of a button. Once you’ve set them up once, using them feels no more complicated than plugging into a wall socket.

What about solar panels?

If you like the idea of stretching your backup even further — or you spend time off-grid in a van, cabin, or garden office — adding solar changes the game completely. A compatible panel from the VoltReady solar collection lets you top up your station whenever there’s daylight, not just when the mains is on.

You don’t have to go “full solar home” for this to be useful. Even a single folding panel leaning in the garden can make a real difference during a long disruption or a weekend away from hook-ups.

Putting it all together

Creating your own backup power kit is less about spending a fortune and more about making a few thoughtful choices ahead of time. Here’s a simple way to get it done:

1. Make a shortlist of what you’d want powered for a few hours if the grid failed tonight.
2. Run those numbers through the VoltReady Backup Power Calculator.
3. Choose the portable power station that best matches your needs and space.
4. Add any extras you’ll appreciate later — an extension lead, a small LED lamp, maybe a folding solar panel.
5. Do one practice run so everyone in the house knows how to switch over quickly.

After that, you can more or less forget about it until the next storm rolls in. When the lights do go off, you’ll feel that quiet satisfaction of being the one house on the street that stayed ready.

Ready to be the house that stays on?

If you’d like a hand picking the right setup, start with the Backup Power Calculator, then explore our full range of portable power stations and solar panels. A little planning today can turn the next power cut into a non-event — and that peace of mind is hard to beat.

When the grid goes dark, VoltReady keeps you glowing.