Emergency electrical service

An emergency electrician is answered on this line around the clock.

Call immediately for any of these

• A burning smell with no obvious source
• Scorch marks or discolouration around an outlet, switch or panel
• Buzzing, crackling or humming from a panel
• A breaker that trips again the moment it is reset
• Water reaching a panel, outlet or fixture
• Damage to the mast, meter base or the wires entering the house
• Sparks from any outlet or fixture, other than a plug pulled out under load
• A shock from an appliance or a tap

A breaker that trips repeatedly is not being difficult. It is doing its job, and something on that circuit is the reason.

What counts as an emergency electrician call

Worth being straight about this, because the word gets used loosely and a call-out costs money. Plenty of faults are worth a call in the morning rather than at midnight: one dead circuit in a house that is otherwise fine, a light fixture that has stopped working, a breaker that tripped once and reset cleanly.

The difference is whether anything is currently making heat, arcing or wet. If it is, it is tonight. If it is not, the first appointment tomorrow costs you less and gets the same work.

What is a utility problem instead

If your neighbours are also dark, it is a Nova Scotia Power outage and they are who to call. Damage to the wires between the pole and your house is also typically theirs, but the mast, the meter base and everything inside are the homeowner’s. If you are unsure which side of the line the damage is on, call and we will tell you.

What happens when you call

You describe what is happening, we tell you honestly whether it is safe to wait until morning, and if it is not, we come. Half of good emergency service is triage: some calls end with a breaker left off and a scheduled visit, some end with us in the driveway within the hour, and the difference is what you tell us on the phone.

What to do before we arrive

If there is smoke or fire, leave and call the fire service from outside. Otherwise, if you can identify the affected circuit safely, switch it off at the panel, unplug what was running on it, and leave the panel cover on.

If water is involved, do not touch the panel at all.

When to call an emergency electrician after a storm

Wind damage to the service mast is common here and it takes priority, because until it is repaired the utility cannot safely reconnect you. If a tree has come down anywhere near the wires to your house, stay well away from it and call.

If the mast or meter base is damaged, that repair is the homeowner’s and it is ours to do. If outages are frequent where you are, a generator is the longer answer, and a breaker that keeps tripping often points at the panel.

After a storm

This region loses power in a way that other places do not, and the calls after a storm follow a pattern. A tree on the service drop is Nova Scotia Power’s side of the meter until it reaches the mast, and the mast is ours.

The other one is generator backfeed. A generator run into the house on a cord through a dryer outlet pushes voltage back out onto the utility line, which is why one belongs on a transfer switch or an interlock instead. If yours is not on one, sort it before the next storm rather than during it, on the generator installation page.

What happens after the emergency

A visit from an emergency electrician makes a house safe. It does not always make it finished. If the fault turns out to be a symptom of something structural, an obsolete panel or original wiring, we will say so, give you the options, and let you decide in daylight rather than at eleven at night. That is usually a panel upgrade or electrical repairs booked properly.