Emergency electrician in Birmingham, 24 hours
No power, tripping you can't reset, or a burning smell? Call us in Birmingham, day or night. We'll be with you within 2 hours.
While you wait
- If something is burning, sparking or wet, switch off at the main switch on the consumer unit, but only if it's dry and safe to reach.
- Don't touch damaged sockets, switches or wires.
- If there's fire or smoke, get out and call 999.
- Unplug appliances on the circuit that keeps tripping.
Emergencies we attend
We're open 24 hours a day for these electrical emergencies in Birmingham. We attend emergencies within 2 hours.
- Loss of power: Some rooms or your whole home have no power, but the street still does.
- Tripping that won't reset: An RCD or breaker on your fuse box keeps flipping off and won't stay on.
- Burning smells and scorch marks: Hot, buzzing or scorched sockets and switches, made safe and repaired.
- Water in the electrics: Water leaking onto lights or sockets, made safe and the wiring tested.
- Damaged cables and exposed wiring: Cut, crushed or bare wires made safe, so nobody gets a shock.
An RCD is a safety switch that cuts the power if electricity leaks. A breaker does the same job when a circuit is overloaded.
Landlords and letting agents can call us for tenant callouts too. See our landlord page for the checks and repairs we do for rentals.
Power cut or a fault in your home?
Before you call, a quick check can save you time.
- Look outside. If street lights and neighbours are off too, it's a power cut. Call 105, the free power cut number.
- Check your meter. On a prepayment meter, make sure you still have credit.
- Check your fuse box. If a switch has flipped down, something in your home has tripped it.
- Boiler won't restart? See our guide to a boiler not working after a power cut.
- Boiler tripping the power? See our guide to a boiler tripping the electrics.
How to reset a tripped switch
- Unplug everything on the circuit that went off.
- Push the tripped switch fully down, then back up.
- If it stays on, plug things back in one at a time. The one that trips it again is the faulty item.
- If it trips straight away with nothing plugged in, leave it off and call us. The fault is in the wiring.
Never tape a switch on, swap a fuse for a bigger one, or keep resetting something that won't stay on. Those switches are there to stop fires and shocks.
Water and electrics
If water is dripping through a light fitting or onto sockets, don't touch them. Turn off the power at the main switch if you can reach it with dry hands, standing somewhere dry. Then turn off the water at the stopcock. Once the leak is fixed, the wiring needs testing before the power goes back on, because water can keep causing problems after things look dry.
We do plumbing too, so we can fix the leak as well. See our emergency plumber page for what to do while you wait.
After an emergency repair
An emergency visit is about making things safe and getting the power back on. Sometimes the fault turns out to be a sign of a wider problem, like old wiring or a fuse box with no RCD protection. If so, we'll explain what we found in plain English and what your options are, so you can decide what to do next without any pressure.
That might be an EICR to check the rest of the wiring. Or it might be a new consumer unit with RCD protection built in.
Common questions
Is it an emergency?
Yes if you have no power and the trip will not reset, a burning smell or scorch marks on a socket or switch, sparks, water near electrics, or exposed wires. If only one appliance has stopped, it is usually the appliance, not the wiring.
My whole street has no power. Should I call you?
No. A street-wide power cut is a network fault. Call 105, the free national power cut number, or check the National Grid Electricity Distribution website.
Is a buzzing or crackling socket dangerous?
It can be. Buzzing often means a loose connection, and loose connections get hot. Stop using the socket. If it is safe to reach, switch that circuit off at the consumer unit. Then call us.
