Power Outage or Electrical Fault? How to Tell Which

If your neighbours still have power and street lights are on, it's not a street-wide outage, it's a fault at your property, and that needs an electrician, not a wait for the network to fix it. Checking this first takes two minutes and changes what you should do next.

The two minute check before you do anything else

Look outside. Are your neighbours' lights on? Are the street lights working? Check your energy retailer's outage tracker or your distributor's app, Ausgrid or Endeavour Energy depending on your suburb, both publish live outage maps. If there's a known outage affecting your street, that's your answer, and calling an electrician won't get your power back any faster.

What a genuine street-wide outage looks like

Multiple neighbouring properties without power, an outage listed on the distributor's tracker, and no unusual signs at your own switchboard, no burning smell, no tripped switches, nothing warm to the touch. This is a network issue, and the distributor's the one to track progress with, not an electrician.

What a property-level fault looks like

Your neighbours have power and you don't. Your own switchboard shows a tripped switch, warmth, discolouration, or you can hear buzzing. Or nothing at the board looks unusual at all but power's still out to part or all of the property. Any of these point to a fault at your property, not the street network, and that's when it's time to call. For more on what a warm or buzzing board specifically means, see our switchboard buzzing and hot smell guide.

What to do while you wait

If you've confirmed it's a genuine street-wide outage, switch off or unplug sensitive electronics and appliances at the wall, particularly anything with a compressor like a fridge or air conditioner, to reduce the risk of damage from a power surge when supply's restored. Avoid opening the fridge or freezer unnecessarily to keep contents cold for longer. There's genuinely nothing else productive to do until the distributor restores supply, calling repeatedly won't speed up the process.

Why this distinction actually matters

Calling an emergency electrician during a genuine street-wide outage won't help, and it delays getting the right help, contacting your distributor directly, which is faster for a network issue. On the flip side, assuming a property-level fault is "just the network" and waiting it out can leave a genuine hazard unaddressed. The two minute check at the start settles which situation you're actually in. It also matters for cost, a callout during a confirmed network outage that turns out not to be an electrical fault at all is a cost you didn't need to incur, on top of not solving the actual problem.