Your neighbour is part of your plan

Most preparedness advice stops at your own front door. The UK Chief Medical Officers' advice on keeping warm in a power cut includes a line asking us to look out for neighbours, friends and family who may be struggling, and the energy networks' storm advice says the same. It's easy to read past, and I think it's the most important line in either.

Islam takes neighbours unusually seriously. The Prophet ﷺ said that whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should be generous to their neighbour (Sahih al-Bukhari 6019), and that a person who eats their fill while the neighbour beside them goes hungry is not a believer (Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 112). That second hadith makes me uncomfortable in a useful way, because it means a store of food and water was never meant to be only for us.

Where Be Ready is thin

Be Ready asks every household for the same three days, and points the people who would struggle most towards the Priority Services Register. I think three days is too little for exactly those homes. For an elderly parent on an upper floor when the lift is out, or someone whose medicine needs a fridge, help that arrives on day three can be too late, so their plan has to include somebody nearby who'll knock on the door.

The register

The Priority Services Register is a free service across England, Scotland and Wales, provided by the energy and water companies for households that may need extra help when supplies are interrupted. You register once with your local electricity network operator, and it shares your details with your gas and water companies. Reasons for joining include:

• being of pensionable age
• a health condition, a mental health condition, or limited or reduced mobility
• a cognitive condition that affects memory, understanding or decision-making
• relying on electricity, gas or water for medical reasons
• children aged five or under at home
• a hearing or visual impairment, or English not being your first language
• needing extra support for a while after leaving hospital or a bereavement

What you get varies, but Ofgem lists priority support in an emergency, advance notice of planned power cuts if you're medically reliant on your supply, and a password so you can tell that the person at the door really is from the network.

If you have an elderly parent, or a neighbour who lives alone, offer to help them sign up. It takes a few minutes on the phone. You can check who qualifies, and register, at thepsr.co.uk.