A sudden power cut or a scary buzzing sound from your consumer unit is unsettling at the best of times — and worse at 9pm on a Sunday. Before you panic, here’s what Boston homeowners and business owners should do, and when it’s time to call an emergency electrician.
Step 1: Check if it’s just you
Look out the window — if neighbouring houses have power, the fault is likely inside your property, not a wider network outage. If the whole street is dark, this is a supply issue for your Distribution Network Operator (DNO), not something an electrician can fix.
Step 2: Check your consumer unit
Has a breaker tripped? Try resetting it once. If it trips again immediately, do not keep resetting it — this usually indicates a genuine fault (an appliance, a damaged cable, or a wiring issue) and repeated resets can be dangerous.
Step 3: Know the red flags that mean “call now, don’t wait”
- Burning smell or visible scorch marks
- Sparks from sockets or switches
- Buzzing or crackling sounds from the consumer unit
- Warm or hot socket faceplates
- Any exposed wiring
If you see any of these, switch off the affected circuit at the consumer unit if it’s safe to do so, and call an emergency electrician immediately.
What counts as a genuine electrical emergency?
- Complete loss of power with no known network outage
- Burning smells or visible damage
- Repeated tripping that won’t reset
- Exposed or damaged wiring
- Water ingress near electrics (after flooding or a leak)
What doesn’t need an emergency call-out?
A single light bulb going out, or one dead socket that others nearby still work fine, can usually wait for a scheduled appointment — saving you the higher urgent call-out rate.
Matson Electrical’s Boston call-out service
We provide rapid-response electrician call-outs across Boston and the surrounding fenland villages. Our vans carry a wide range of parts, so most faults — including consumer unit faults, socket failures, and fuse board issues — are resolved on the first visit.
