No power in the house? What to check first

Is it just your property?

Check whether neighbours still have lights on. If the whole street is dark, it's likely a network supply fault — call your electricity supplier (105 from any phone in England) rather than an electrician. If only your house is affected, the problem is on your side of the meter.

Check the consumer unit (fuse box)

Open the cupboard where your fuse box lives — usually under the stairs in Blackpool terraces, or in a garage or utility room on newer builds. Look for:

• Main switch off — if it's down, try switching it back up once. If it trips immediately, stop.
• One circuit breaker tripped — a single room or floor without power often means one circuit fault, not a total outage.
• RCD tripped with everything else on — unplug appliances on that circuit and try again. See our fuse box tripping guide for more detail.

Check your prepayment meter

If you're on a prepay meter, credit running out cuts power instantly — top up and press the reset button on the meter before assuming there's a fault. Holiday lets near the Tower and South Shore often catch guests out this way.

When it's an emergency

Call a power outage electrician straight away if:

• You smell burning or see scorch marks near the consumer unit
• The main switch won't stay on after one reset attempt
• You have vulnerable people at home relying on medical equipment
• There's sparking, buzzing, or heat from any fitting or cable

What we do on a no-power callout

From our Newhouse Road base we cover FY1–FY4 and the wider Fylde Coast. On arrival we test the incoming supply, inspect the consumer unit, and fault-find circuit by circuit until we find the cause — whether that's a failed RCD, a damaged cable in an old Marton terrace, or a blown service fuse that needs an authorised repair.