Right now, in this order
Get people clear
If someone might still be touching something live, don't touch them. Call 000.
Main switch off, if it's safe to reach
Leave it if the meter box is wet, smoking or sparking, or if you'd have to stand in water to get to it.
Ring the right number
000 for fire, smoke or injury. TasNetworks on 132 004 for shocks, sparking, fallen lines or a fault affecting life support equipment. The SES on 132 500 for storm or flood damage to the house.
Leave it off until it's tested
Anything that's been wet, scorched or smoking stays off until a licensed electrician has checked it.
Fallen lines and damaged poles
Treat every fallen line as live, even when it's lying still. We couldn't confirm a safe distance published by TasNetworks, so keep well back, keep children and pets away, and call 132 004. In Tasmania, private poles and lines generally start at the first pole on your property and are the owner's responsibility, but if one is down or sparking, TasNetworks is still the first call.
What Hobart emergencies tend to look like
Flash floods off the mountain
Hobart sits between kunanyi / Mount Wellington and the Derwent, with the Hobart, New Town and Sandy Bay rivulets running through it. In May 2018, 128 mm fell in 24 hours, flash flooding hit the CBD, Sandy Bay, South Hobart, New Town, Kingston and Blackmans Bay, and more than 13,000 homes lost electricity.
Storms that last for days
The storm that began on 26 August 2024 ran for five days with winds up to 156 km/h. Up to 47,000 customers were off supply at the peak, and some waited up to 23 days to be reconnected.
Planned or unplanned?
TasNetworks commits to written notice at least 4 business days before a planned outage. Its online outage map shows current faults, and there's a form to report one that isn't listed. Non-urgent questions go to 1300 137 008 on weekdays.
Trees on lines
Tasmania SES advises trimming branches near powerlines and watching for damaged lines after storms. TasNetworks says to keep vegetation at least 3 metres from overhead lines, using an authorised contractor.
Is it the network, or your house?
Look outside. If the street lights and the houses around you are dark, check TasNetworks' outage map, and report it on the online form if it isn't there. If it's only your place, look at the switchboard for a tripped safety switch or breaker, and reset it once with appliances on that circuit unplugged. If it won't stay on, or nothing has tripped, it's a job for an electrician.
In a Hobart winter, a fault that kills the heating can be urgent even when nothing's sparking, especially with young children or older people in the house. Light frost comes most years, and sleet can fall from June to September.
Getting an urgent job to a Hobart electrician
There's no round-the-clock line on this site. Where there's a licence-checked Hobart electrician in our network who takes urgent fault work, your job goes to them and they'll ring you, but we can't promise how quickly. In the form, choose Something's not working, then Today, it's urgent.
If you rent, tell the landlord or agent in writing as well. In Tasmania, a lease can't be entered into, extended or renewed unless the power points and the wiring in the walls and ceiling are safe and supply electricity. After the repair, you should get a copy of the record of the work in an approved form.
What you can do, and what has to wait for the electrician
You can
- Turn off the main switch, if you can reach it dry and safely.
- Reset a tripped safety switch once, with that circuit's appliances unplugged.
- Unplug an appliance that sparked, smelled hot or tripped the power, and leave it out.
Leave to a licensed electrician
- Anything scorched, melted, buzzing or smoking.
- A safety switch or breaker that trips again straight away.
- Testing wiring, power points and appliances after a flood.
- Repairs to a private pole or line on your property, once TasNetworks has made it safe.
If it were our Hobart home
We'd put 132 004 in every phone today and make sure everyone in the house can find the main switch in the dark. If the house sits near one of the rivulets, we'd also keep a torch by the meter box and switch off early when flash flooding is forecast, rather than wading out to do it later.
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.