First, the order of calls
000 for danger to life
A shock, a fire, smoke, or someone still touching something live. Don't touch them yourself.
Evoenergy for the network: 13 10 93
Fallen, damaged or low-hanging lines should always be treated as live. Evoenergy says to stay at least 10 metres from the lines and anything they're touching.
ACT SES for storm damage: 132 500
Trees on the roof, hail through the ceiling, or water coming in.
A licensed electrician for faults inside
Once it's safe, the wiring, switchboard and fixed appliances in your home are an electrician's job.
Water through the ceiling after hail
If hail or rain has come through the roof, keep away from wet ceilings, light fittings and power points, and turn off the main switch only if you can reach it from somewhere dry. In January 2020, hail four to six centimetres across penetrated roofs and caused flooding in Canberra homes. Leave anything that got wet off until a licensed electrician has checked it.
What Canberra emergencies tend to look like
Storm season
The ACT Emergency Services Agency says storms are more common from September to the end of February, and that lightning, strong winds and large hail can damage trees and power lines. Canberra's thunderstorms mostly fall between October and April.
Hail that cuts the power
On 3 January 2022, a supercell dropped golf-ball-sized hail on West Belconnen and Tuggeranong, left 17,000 people without power and brought the ACT SES more than 800 calls.
Mr Fluffy tags
Homes affected by Mr Fluffy loose-fill asbestos must carry a safety tag at the meter box and switchboard, and fibres have been found in roof spaces, wall cavities and subfloors. If your home has the tag, tell the electrician before they arrive, emergency or not.
Trees and lines
Owners must keep trees at least 1 metre from the service line to the house and 1.5 metres from other power lines, or 2 metres in bushfire prone areas. A branch already on a line is Evoenergy's to deal with.
Network outage or a fault at home?
Evoenergy's outage map shows planned and unplanned outages, and you can register a mobile number to get a text when the power is back. If your street is on the map, there's nothing for an electrician to do yet.
If it's just you, check the switchboard. A tripped safety switch can be reset once, and if it drops again straight away, that circuit has a fault. If nothing has tripped, ring Evoenergy, because the supply line to the house may be the problem.
Renting? In the ACT, a dangerous electrical fault or a failure of the electricity supply counts as an urgent repair, and the landlord must arrange it as soon as practicable.
Yours to do, and the electrician's
You can
- Turn off the main switch from a dry spot, if that's safe.
- Reset one tripped safety switch, once.
- Unplug the appliances on a circuit that keeps tripping.
- Look for a Mr Fluffy safety tag at the meter box, without opening anything inside.
Leave to a licensed electrician
- Water through ceilings or light fittings.
- A safety switch that won't reset.
- Scorch marks, buzzing or a burning smell at the board.
- Any work in a Mr Fluffy tagged home.
Urgent jobs through Sparky Next Door
We don't run an after-hours service. Mark the job Today, it's urgent in the form and, if we have a licence-checked Canberra electrician who takes urgent fault calls, they'll get the job and contact you. Timing is up to them, which is why anything dangerous should go to 000 or Evoenergy first.
What we'd do before storm season
By September, we'd have 13 10 93 and 132 500 saved, the trees cut back from the service line by someone qualified, and everyone at home shown where the main switch is. If the house has a Mr Fluffy tag, we'd keep a note of it with those numbers, so whoever turns up in a hurry hears about it first.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.