Electrical business guide
What counts as an electrical emergency, and what to ask the caller
An electrical call is an emergency when there's burning smell, smoke, sparking, a hot or buzzing panel, water near live equipment, a shock from a fixture, or lights surging brighter and dimmer. Ask what they see, smell and hear before anything else, give the safety step, then book the soonest slot. A single dead outlet usually isn't an emergency.
Most "emergency" electrical calls are a tripped GFCI and a worried homeowner. A few are a house that could catch fire tonight. The first minute on the phone is where you tell them apart, and the questions you ask matter more than how fast you can get a truck rolling.
What actually counts as an electrical emergency
Treat the call as urgent if the caller describes any of these:
- A burning or hot plastic smell, or smoke from an outlet, switch, fixture or the panel
- Sparking or arcing, or a crackling or sizzling sound from the walls or panel
- A panel, breaker or cover plate that's hot to the touch or scorched
- Water on or near the panel, meter or wiring after a leak or flood
- Someone getting a shock from a fixture, appliance, faucet or metal surface
- Lights getting brighter and dimmer, or some circuits acting strange when big loads start
- The service mast or meter pulled off the house
Things that usually aren't emergencies: one dead outlet, a single flickering bulb, a breaker that tripped once and reset fine, or a doorbell that stopped working. Those still deserve a visit, just not a midnight one.
Safety first: if there's visible fire or heavy smoke, the caller should leave and call 911 before calling you. If a power line is down, they stay away from it and call the utility. Never walk a homeowner through removing a panel cover or touching wiring.
Script: the burning smell call
CallerThere's a burning smell coming from the hallway outlet and it's warm.
YouOkay, thanks for calling right away. Is there any smoke, or any flame?
CallerNo smoke. Just the smell.
YouGood. Unplug anything plugged into that outlet if you can do it without touching the metal. Then go to your breaker panel. If the area is dry, switch off the breaker for the hallway, or the main if you can't tell which one. Is the panel easy to reach?
CallerYes, it's in the garage.
YouGreat. After that, stay out of that part of the house until we're there, and if you see smoke at any point, get out and call 911. What's the address, and is there a gate code or a dog we should know about?
Script: the dead outlets call
CallerHalf the outlets in my bathroom and garage stopped working. Is that an emergency?
YouProbably not, but let's check. Any burning smell, heat, or sparks anywhere?
CallerNo, nothing like that.
YouThen it may just be a GFCI outlet that tripped. Look for an outlet with Test and Reset buttons, often in the bathroom, garage, kitchen or outside. Press Reset firmly. If it won't reset, or it trips again, we'll get you on the schedule.
That second call is so common it has its own homeowner guide: dead outlet? check the GFCI first. Sending customers there before they call can save you a wasted trip.
Why these scripts work
They lead with the danger questions, not the address. They give one safety step the caller can take without tools. They never ask the homeowner to diagnose, only to report what they see, smell and hear. And they close by collecting access details, so the tech isn't stuck at a locked gate at 11 p.m.
Notice what's left out: no guess at the cause and no price for a repair nobody has seen. If the caller asks what it costs, give your after-hours visit rate and stop there.
Questions worth adding for your area
Older neighborhoods with fuse boxes, split-bus panels or aluminum branch wiring deserve one extra question: "Do you know roughly how old the house is, or when the panel was last replaced?" A warm outlet in a 1970s house with aluminum wiring gets a faster slot than the same complaint in a five-year-old build. If you serve a lot of rural customers, ask whether they're on a well pump, since losing a circuit there can also mean losing water.
Write your own triage card this week
Put your urgent list, your safety wording and your after-hours rate on one card, and tape it next to whoever answers the phone. Storm days bring their own mix of calls, covered in handling storm and outage calls. For the rest of the phone playbook, see the Booked for electricians page.
Questions owners ask
Is a breaker that keeps tripping an emergency?
Usually not by itself. A breaker doing its job is protecting the circuit. It becomes urgent if the caller also mentions heat at the panel, a burning smell, scorch marks on a cover plate, or a breaker that won't stay off. Tell them not to keep resetting it, and book a visit.
What should I tell someone who smells burning but can't find the source?
If the smell is strong or there is any smoke, get everyone out and call 911 first. If it's faint and comes from one area, they can turn off that breaker if the panel is dry and easy to reach, and stop using that room until you arrive. Don't walk them through opening anything.
Should I send a tech after dark for a partial outage?
It depends on the symptoms. Lights getting brighter and dimmer, or some circuits at odd voltages, can point to a neutral problem that can damage electronics and appliances. That's worth a same-night visit if you run after-hours service. One dead room with everything else normal can usually wait for morning.
Can I charge emergency rates if it turns out to be minor?
If you told the caller the after-hours rate and they chose the visit, yes. The rate pays for the timing, not the size of the problem. Say the rate before you dispatch so there's no dispute, and consider offering the next morning at the normal rate as an option.
Who handles a power line that's down in the yard?
The utility, not you. Tell the caller to stay well away, keep kids and pets inside, and call the utility's outage or emergency line. Once the utility has made it safe, damage to the mast, meter base or service entrance on the house side is often the owner's electrician's job.