If you can smell burning, see sparks, or the switchboard is hot or wet, turn the power off at the main switch and ring us now on (07) 4099 3497. We run a 24 hour callout.
Electrical problems
No power after a storm or flooding
If your switchboard or wiring has been under water or hit by lightning, the power does not come back on until a licensed electrician has tested it and issued a certificate.
- 5.0 on Google
- 24/7 emergency callout
- Licence 82270
Check whether it is you or the network first
Look up and down the street. If the neighbours are out too, it is a network fault and Ergon Energy is the call, not us. If it is only you, the problem is on your side of the meter.
Never touch or go near a fallen powerline. Treat every downed line as live and report it to emergency services.
If your switchboard or wiring has been under water
This is the part most people do not know, and it comes straight from the Electrical Safety Office:
Where property has been damaged, verification testing is required before reconnection, and "a licensed electrician will need to perform this task and a certificate of test will ensure your local electricity distribution entity can reconnect your service."
In plain terms: after inundation or serious damage, the power does not come back on because the lines are back up. It comes back on when a licensed electrician has tested the installation and issued the certificate. That applies to switchboards, wiring, equipment and appliances.
Do not try to dry it out and carry on
Water gets inside switchgear and into the terminations, and corrosion keeps going long after the outside looks dry. A board that has been submerged is not a board that can be towelled off. Stay away from any switchboard damaged by water, fire or a close lightning strike, and warn other people off it.
Lightning damage looks different
A close strike often does not take the power out at all. What it does is kill electronics: modems, TVs, oven controls, pool controllers boards, sometimes a safety switch. If several unrelated things stopped working at once during a storm, that is the pattern.
Surge protection at the switchboard is worth more in Far North Queensland than almost anywhere else in the country, and it is a lot cheaper than the appliances it protects.
Before the next one
Get the pre-season check done before the wet, not during it. Once a system is crossing the coast every electrician in the Far North is doing emergency work, not preventative work. Safety switch tested, surge protection at the board, generator changeover checked while you do not need it, outdoor gear and aerials secure.
Source: Electrical Safety Office, electrical safety during storms. What we replace after submersion is our professional practice, not a prescribed list.
Straight answers
No power after a storm: your questions
How long does the inspection and certificate take after a storm?
For a straightforward domestic installation that has taken water at the board, usually the same visit. If the wiring itself has been submerged it takes longer, because every affected circuit has to be tested rather than assumed.
Can I run a generator while the power is off after a storm?
Only through a proper changeover switch. A generator connected without one backfeeds the network and can kill a line worker restoring your street. It is illegal and it is genuinely lethal. If you do not have a changeover switch, run appliances directly off the generator on extension leads instead.
Will you come out during a cyclone?
Not during. Nobody should be on a ladder or in a roof in those conditions, us included. We are out as soon as it is safe, and we prioritise properties with no power and vulnerable people in them.
Other things that go wrong
Common electrical problems in the Douglas Shire
No power after a storm? We will find the actual cause.
Ring (07) 4099 3497 now. Day or night, we pick up the phone. For anything that can wait, leave a number and we ring you back in office hours.