Sparks, smoke or a hot smell at the switchboard? Don't reset anything
Keep away from the switchboard and leave everything as it is. If there's smoke or fire, get out and call 000. If a power line is down, stay at least 8 metres away (Evoenergy in the ACT says 10 metres), keep others back and call your network straight away.
What to check, in order
Look next door
If the street is dark, it's a network outage. Check your network's outage map or call its faults line from the table below. There's nothing an electrician can do until the supply is back.
Open the meter box door
Look for a switch that's down or sitting halfway. A safety switch has a test button and a circuit breaker doesn't. Note which one has gone.
Unplug the dead rooms
Switch off and unplug everything in the rooms without power. A faulty appliance is the usual reason a safety switch trips.
Reset it once
Push the switch firmly back on. If it holds, plug things back in one at a time to find the culprit, as our tripping guide explains. If it won't stay on even with the rooms unplugged, that's a fault for an electrician.
Nothing tripped? Check the main switch
If the main switch is off, switch it on once. If the house is still dark and the neighbours have power, the fault may be in your supply or main connection, so call your network first and an electrician second.
Half the house is out, but nothing has tripped
Older homes sometimes have ceramic fuses instead of circuit breakers, and a blown fuse gives no visible sign from the outside. Queensland and the ACT don't count changing a fuse as electrical work, but on an old ceramic board we'd still call an electrician. Ausgrid says to call one straight away if fuses keep blowing.
On a three-phase home, losing one phase of the supply can drop some circuits while the rest keep going. That's a supply or main connection fault for the network or an electrician to find, not something to fix at the board.
Faults and outage lines, network by network
| Covers | Call | |
|---|---|---|
| Ausgrid | Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter | 13 13 88 |
| Endeavour Energy | Greater Western Sydney, Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, Illawarra, South Coast | 131 003 |
| Essential Energy | Regional, rural and remote NSW | 13 20 80 |
| CitiPower | Melbourne's CBD and inner suburbs | 13 12 80 |
| Powercor | Western and regional Victoria | 13 24 12 |
| Jemena | North-west Melbourne | 131 626 |
| United Energy | South-east Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula | 13 20 99 |
| AusNet Services | Melbourne's north and east, and eastern Victoria | 13 17 99 |
| Energex | South East Queensland | 13 62 62 for outages, 13 19 62 for fallen lines and shocks |
| Ergon Energy | Regional Queensland | 13 22 96 for outages, 13 16 70 for fallen lines and shocks |
| Western Power | Perth and the main WA grid | 13 13 51 |
| Horizon Power | Regional WA outside the main grid | 13 23 51 |
| SA Power Networks | South Australia | 13 13 66 |
| TasNetworks | Tasmania | 132 004 for shocks, sparking and fallen lines; outages on its online map |
| Evoenergy | ACT | 13 10 93 |
| Power and Water | Northern Territory | 1800 245 090 for emergencies, 1800 245 092 for other faults |
What you can do, and what's an electrician's
You can
- Check the neighbours and your network's outage map.
- Reset a tripped safety switch, circuit breaker or main switch once.
- Unplug appliances to find a faulty one.
- Call the network about a street outage or a fallen line.
Leave to a licensed electrician
- A switch that won't stay on with everything unplugged.
- Old fuses, breakers or safety switches that need replacing.
- Any burning smell, heat or damage at the switchboard.
- Finding why part of the house is dead when nothing has tripped.
Where we'd look first
Neighbours first, switchboard second. Those two checks sort out most outages in a few minutes. If a switch won't stay on with everything unplugged, or part of the house is dead with nothing tripped, we'd stop there and call an electrician who does fault finding, because something between the board and those rooms has failed.
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.