If the power goes off at home in Dunfermline or Rosyth, the first question is simple: is it the street, or is it your house? If the street is off, it is a power cut and you ring 105. If it is only you, the fault is on your side of the meter and you need an electrician. Jack does emergency call-outs 24/7 across Dunfermline, Rosyth and the rest of Fife on 07466 017593, and he answers his own phone.
Here is the two-minute check that tells you which it is, and what is safe to try first.
Step 1: look outside
- Are the neighbours’ lights on? Look at the houses either side and across the road.
- Are the street lights on, if it is dark?
- Is the whole street quiet, no TVs, no lit windows?
If everyone is off, it is almost certainly a power cut. Ring 105, the free national power cut number. In Fife it goes to SP Energy Networks, the company that looks after the cables in the street and up to your meter. They can tell you if they already know about it and roughly when it will be back. There is nothing an electrician can do about a fault on the network.
Step 2: if it is only your house, look at the board
Find your fuse board, also called the consumer unit. It is often in a hall cupboard, under the stairs or in the garage. Do not take the cover off. Just look at the switches on the front.
- A switch has dropped down. That is the board doing its job. Something tripped it.
- Nothing has dropped and you still have no power. It could be the supply to your house. If you have a prepayment meter, check it has credit. Otherwise ring 105, as the fault may be at the meter or the cable into the house, which is the network’s side.
Step 3: if a switch has dropped
- Unplug everything on the affected circuit. If it is the main switch or a big RCD, that means everything in the house.
- Push the switch back up once.
- If it stays up, plug things back in one at a time, waiting a minute between each. Whatever is plugged in when it trips again is very likely the culprit. Leave it unplugged and get it checked.
- If it will not stay up with nothing plugged in, stop. Do not keep forcing it. The fault is in the wiring or the board, and it needs testing.
There is a longer explanation in why does my electricity keep tripping.
When to stop and call straight away
Do not try anything yourself if there is:
- A smell of burning or hot plastic, from the board, a socket or a light
- Scorch marks, sparking, or a socket that is hot to touch
- Water near the board, sockets or lights, for example from a leak upstairs
- A tingle from a tap, a cooker or a metal fitting
If it is safe to reach, switch off the main switch on the board. Then ring Jack. If there is smoke or fire, get out and ring 999 first. There is more in what to do in an electrical emergency.
Why older houses round here trip more
Rosyth’s original garden-city cottages date from 1916 into the 1920s and are now on their second or third lot of wiring. Dunfermline has sandstone and Victorian terraces near the centre and plenty of post-war houses. A lot of homes in both towns have had kitchens, showers and extensions added over the years on a board that was never upgraded. An older board with one RCD across half the house means a small fault in the garden lights can take the kitchen and the freezer off with it. If that keeps happening, a modern board with an RCBO on every circuit stops one fault knocking out half the house. See fuse boards and consumer units.
What happens when Jack comes out
He tests circuit by circuit until the fault has a location, tells you what it was in plain English, and fixes it, rather than resetting the switch and leaving. Anything dangerous is made safe first. If the fix needs parts or a bigger job, you get the price before he starts.
For emergencies in and around Dunfermline, see emergency electrician in Dunfermline. For the rest of Fife and Edinburgh, see 24/7 emergency electrician. Local pages: Dunfermline, Rosyth, Inverkeithing.
The questions people ask most when the lights go out are below.