Is it just my house?
Find out in under a minute whether the power cut is your whole area or a fault inside your home, and who to call.
How to tell if a power cut is only in your house
The first thing to work out in a power cut is where the fault is. It decides who can fix it: your electricity board (DISCOM) for anything up to the meter, or a licensed electrician for anything inside your home. These are the five situations the checker above tells apart.
The whole street is dark
Neighbours, street lights and the building corridor are all off. The fault is on the distribution network: a feeder trip, a failed transformer, a cable fault or a scheduled maintenance shutdown. Nothing in your home needs fixing. Report it on the live map and call 1912 if it lasts more than an hour.
Only your home is dark and a switch has tripped
An MCB or the RCCB (also called ELCB) in your switch board has switched itself off. MCBs trip on overload or a short circuit; an RCCB trips when current leaks to earth, often from a damp appliance, a geyser element or old wiring. Unplug heavy appliances and switch it back on. If it trips again immediately, leave it off and call a licensed electrician.
Your meter display is off
If the meter itself is dark while neighbours have power, supply is not reaching your connection: the service wire from the pole, the pole fuse or the meter may have failed. That is your electricity board’s responsibility, so call 1912 rather than an electrician. On a prepaid smart meter, check the balance first.
Only some rooms are dark
Either one circuit’s MCB has tripped, or, on a three-phase connection, one of the three phases has failed. A missing phase darkens only the rooms on that phase, and some neighbours lose power too. If every MCB is up, call 1912 and tell them one phase is missing.
The meter is on but nothing in the house works
Power reaches the meter but not your switch board. Common causes are a failed main switch, a blown cut-out fuse or a loose connection between the meter and the board. Call a licensed electrician, and keep the main switch off while anyone works on it.
Stay safe while you check
- Never open or touch the electricity meter, its seal or the service wire. They belong to the electricity board and stay live even when your main switch is off.
- Don’t touch the switch board with wet hands or while standing on a wet floor.
- If a switch trips again as soon as you reset it, stop resetting it: something is faulty.
- If you smell burning or see scorch marks on a switch or socket, switch off the main switch and call an electrician.
- Running a generator or inverter wired straight into house wiring without a changeover switch can send power back into the street’s lines and injure line workers.
Who to call
For anything on the electricity board's side (area outages, no power at the meter, a missing phase), call 1912, the national electricity complaint number, or the helpline printed on your bill. Keep your consumer number (also on the bill) ready. For faults inside your home, call a licensed electrician. See our guide to what to do during a power cut for the rest of the checklist.