Power tripped at home? What it means and what to do

If the power goes off in your home but the corridor and your neighbours still have lights, it's most likely a power trip, not an outage. A safety switch in your DB (distribution) box has cut the power to protect you.

Why power trips happen

• A faulty appliance, such as a kettle, water heater or washing machine with an earth leakage fault. This trips the RCCB (residual current circuit breaker, sometimes still called ELCB).
• Moisture in a socket or wiring after heavy rain or cleaning.
• Overload: too many high-power appliances on one circuit trips that circuit's breaker.

How to reset it safely

1. Switch off and unplug the appliances that were running when it tripped.
2. Open the DB box and find the switch that is in the down (off) position.
3. Push it back up. If it stays on, plug appliances back in one at a time.
4. If it trips again when one appliance goes back in, stop using that appliance.

Use dry hands, and never open covers or touch wiring inside the DB box.

When to call a licensed electrician

If the switch won't stay up with everything unplugged, keeps tripping, or you smell burning or see scorch marks, stop and call a licensed electrician. Don't keep resetting it.

Waiting for the repair?

If the electrician can't come until the next day, a portable battery keeps the essentials going: Wi-Fi, phone chargers, a fridge, fans and lights. Plug them straight into the battery, not into the house wiring. See home & office batteries or use the power planner to size one.

If the whole block is dark, it's an area outage instead. See what to do in a power outage.