What to do during an unplanned outage

First, check whether it's just you: if neighbours across the street also have no power, it's a shared fault, not a problem with your meter or wiring. Report it once — call 1912 with your consumer number and area — rather than calling repeatedly, which doesn't speed up dispatch. Keep the main switch off if you smell burning or see visible sparking at your meter box; that's a safety issue, not just an outage, and worth mentioning explicitly when you report it.

← All guides

Work out what kind of fault it is first

Three checks take under two minutes and decide who can fix your problem.

1. Look outside. If the street lights and neighbouring houses are also dark, it is a feeder or transformer fault and the utility already knows or soon will.
2. Check your own main switch and MCB. If only your house is dark, a tripped MCB or an ELCB that has detected a leakage is far more likely than a supply fault. Reset once; if it trips again immediately, something in your wiring is faulty and it needs an electrician, not the helpline.
3. Check one phase or all. In houses with a three-phase connection, one phase failing means some rooms work and others do not, and lights may glow dim. That is a single-phasing fault and is worth reporting quickly because it can damage motors and compressors.

Reporting it so it actually gets logged

Call 1912 from any network, or 94987 94987, or send a WhatsApp message to 94458 50811. Have your service connection number ready — it is printed on every bill and it identifies your exact meter, which is far faster than describing the street. Ask for the complaint or docket number and note it down; without it, a follow-up call starts from zero.

Describe the symptom, not the diagnosis. "No supply since 7.40 pm, whole street affected, a loud bang from the transformer near the temple" tells the crew what to bring. "Transformer damaged" alone does not.

Safety during a fault

Never touch or move a fallen conductor, and keep children and livestock well away — assume every downed line is live. Do not attempt to reset a substation or transformer switch yourself. If you smell burning from your meter board or see smoke, switch off the main and call immediately. During heavy rain, keep away from metal poles, stay clear of stay wires, and avoid walking through standing water near a pole or a street-light base.

What a reasonable restoration time looks like

A blown fuse on a single service line is often restored within an hour. A feeder trip that only needs re-closing can be back in minutes. A failed distribution transformer typically means four to twelve hours because a replacement unit has to be brought and swapped. Storm damage across many poles can take a day or more, and crews prioritise hospitals, water works and the largest affected areas first.