London Heroes — home

Emergency electrician in London

Burning smells, buzzing sockets, or a consumer unit that won't reset are not wait-until-Monday problems. Switch the affected circuit off, unless the consumer unit itself is wet, scorched, crackling or smells of burning, and request urgent help.

If you smell gas, or a carbon monoxide alarm sounds: don't smoke, light a flame or touch light switches, open the doors and windows, turn the gas off at the meter if you can reach it safely and it isn't in a cellar or basement, get everyone out, and call the National Gas Emergency Service free on 0800 111 999 before anything else — before calling us.

If anything is smoking or alight: get everyone out and call 999 first.

Request urgent help

Sound familiar?

  • Burning smell or scorch marks at a socket, switch or the consumer unit
  • Consumer unit tripping repeatedly and won't reset
  • No power because the main switch trips and won't stay on
  • Sparks, buzzing or crackling from fittings
  • Water has reached electrics

What your Hero will do

  1. 1Make the installation safe and isolate the faulty circuit
  2. 2Trace the fault — damaged cable, failed accessory, overloaded circuit
  3. 3Repair or safely disconnect the fault, and test the affected circuits
  4. 4Tell you plainly if further remedial work or an EICR is advisable

When to call

If anything is smoking or on fire, leave and call 999 first. Otherwise, request help as soon as you've switched the affected circuit off at the consumer unit. If the consumer unit is itself wet, scorched, crackling or smells of burning, don't touch it: request help and leave it for the electrician. A power cut is not an electrician's job: if nothing has tripped and any prepayment meter has credit, report it to your local electricity network operator online, or call 105 free.

Common questions

My fuse box keeps tripping — is that an emergency?
If it resets and holds, it's urgent but not an emergency — book a fault-finding visit. If it won't reset, or trips instantly every time, leave the circuit off and request urgent help: something on that circuit has failed.
What counts as an electrical emergency?
An electrical emergency is a fault that risks your safety if it waits: a burning smell or scorch marks at a socket, a switch or the consumer unit, sparks, buzzing or crackling from a fitting, water that has reached electrics, or a consumer unit that trips repeatedly and won't reset, including a main switch that won't stay on even with everything unplugged. If anything is smoking or on fire, leave the property and call 999 first. Otherwise, switch the affected circuit off at the consumer unit and request urgent help through London Heroes. Don't touch anything that's wet, scorched or buzzing, and leave the consumer unit alone if it is itself wet, scorched, crackling or smells of burning. Our team reviews every urgent request and matches it to an available verified Hero where we can. A power cut is not an electrician's job, even if your neighbours still have power: if nothing in your consumer unit has tripped and any prepayment meter has credit, report it to your local electricity network operator online, or call 105 free. A consumer unit that trips but then resets and holds is urgent but not an emergency: request a booking through London Heroes for a fault-finding visit.

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