Emergency electrician, Mount Eden

Look out the window before you do anything else. If the street lights and the neighbours are dark as well, the fault is almost certainly on the network, and that belongs to Vector, the lines company that owns and runs Auckland's supply. Vector's power outage page lets you check your address for a current outage and report one if it is not listed. Storms, tree branches on overhead lines and cars hitting poles are among the usual causes. If someone in the house relies on medical equipment that needs power, Vector recommends registering that with your electricity retailer before you ever need it.

If only part of the house is out, the fault is in your own wiring, and that is where we come in; if the whole house is off but the neighbours are not, it may be your wiring, your service line or the fuse at the point of supply, which is usually Vector's. The service line from the street to the meter usually belongs to the property owner too, so a damaged line after a storm is also yours to have repaired. For a fault inside the house, from the switchboard to the last light switch, call us any time on 021 156 4005. Once the immediate danger is dealt with, the cause is often worth a proper look: a fault that trips again next week is cheaper to find now, and the same goes for an old board, where a switchboard replacement may be the lasting fix.