Power cuts, water cuts

[Rowena191]

Living in a rural area, we have had two power cuts and two water cuts this week. This happens occasionally and we keep torches and candles in and a couple of bottles of water in the fridge. But I don't remember such a bad stretch before. What do people think is going on? Has the hot weather put the system under stress, or are the utility companies not doing enough maintenance?

Yes and yes!

No problems here - the last power cut was a planned one, for trimming trees back from power lines.

For us power cuts are always due to trees coming down just something we need to plan for.
In recent year loss of water has always been due to Southern Water sending a subcontractor to do a small repair. This small repair then fails - in one case spectacularly sweeping away a neighbours drive and then Southern Water ending up having to do a much bigger repair themselves.
But none of this feels different to previous after the 1987 storm we were without power for 4 weeks in rural Suffolk due to the amount of damage that had been done.
My parents were without power for 2 weeks in about 2015 due to a substation failing.
We currently gave a small generator, but are about to install solar panels and a battery to further protect ourselves.

In some areas the water comes via pumping stations, so if the power goes off the pumps stop working.

Rural Hampshire here. We've had three power cuts this month already. No water cuts yet. I generally keep a few litres of fresh water in glass bottles. In an emergency, I have a well, although not sure how clean the water is.

I also have a grey water system that recycles all our shower water for watering the garden and washing cars etc.

It cuts my water bill by about £250 year in a hot summer, so it pays for itself within a couple of years. The same system should be built into more new houses, to protect our drinking water supply.