Cardiff: whole property has lost power — what to do now
Whole property has lost power in Cardiff — findings recorded, scope agreed before work starts, no open-ended hourly billing. Available throughout Cardiff, including Caerphilly.
Do this before we arrive
- Check whether neighbouring properties are also without power before calling anyone out.
- Switch off high-load appliances — cooker, immersion, EV charger — so nothing surges back on when supply returns. It affects timing more than cost.
- In most Cardiff cases: call 105 free from any phone to report and confirm a network outage in your area.
While you wait: never remove or attempt to replace the sealed cut-out fuse before the meter. That is the network operator's equipment, it is unfused on the supply side, and interfering with it is both dangerous and illegal.
There is a short version and a long version of whole property has lost power. The short version: test it, then decide.
When every circuit is dead the fault is either upstream of your consumer unit — the service head, cut-out fuse or supply cable — or it is the main switch and tails inside the board. We would rather turn a Cardiff job down than take on something we cannot certificate honestly. In practice that means checking a blown DNO cut-out fuse before anything is replaced.
Cardiff properties near Penarth are covered on the same schedule, so a joint visit is often possible if a neighbour needs the same thing. It is written into the report either way, so nothing is hidden.
Timescales are given honestly. If a part has to come, we say when rather than leaving it open. Anyone testing properly will reach the same conclusion.
If something falls outside what we can do properly, we say so and point you at who does it, rather than attempting it. It rarely changes the price, but it does change the plan.
The intention of this page is to save you a wasted visit, not to create one. Nothing about this needs to be stressful — it is a known process with a known output.
Written with Cardiff housing and Cardiff Council requirements in mind.
What this usually turns out to be
- Weather and exposure play a part locally, and a blown DNO cut-out fuse is the usual result.
- A failed main switch inside the consumer unit — one of several possibilities, all of which get checked.
- Loose or heat-damaged meter tails at the board, which is why the whole circuit gets tested and not just the visible part.
- A network-side fault or planned outage, which is measurable rather than a matter of opinion.
How we work through it
- We confirm whether supply is present at the cut-out. Nothing gets replaced on a hunch.
- If it is a network fault we tell you — no shortcuts, because the paperwork has to stand up.
- If it is inside the installation we make safe. That covers the part most people are unsure about.
As with every job in CF10–CF24: attendance and full supply-side diagnosis quoted before we travel; repairs priced in writing after testing.
Why this comes up in Cardiff
Cardiff housing is largely a mix of Victorian and Edwardian terraces in Cathays and Roath, and that shapes how this fault presents.
Commercial calls in Cardiff cluster around Splott, Leckwith and Cardiff Bay business parks; domestic calls spread across the rest of CF10–CF24.
Penarth and Pontypridd sit either side of our Cardiff route, so both are same-week bookable.
Questions we get asked
Who pays if it turns out to be a network fault?
You call 105 and the network operator attends free. If we have already attended and identify it as their fault, we tell you immediately rather than working around it.
What should I have ready before you arrive?
Access to the board and to the affected area, plus any previous certificates. That is enough to start at the Cardiff property.
Can you talk to my letting agent directly?
Yes, if you tell us who to contact. Access and reporting can both go through them.
What is not included?
Building work, decoration and anything outside the electrical scope. Those are flagged rather than absorbed.
Do you charge more for Cardiff callouts?
No. Cardiff and the surrounding Penarth and Caerphilly area are inside our standard coverage, so the same callout applies as anywhere else we work.
Start with a survey
Send a short description and any previous certificate. We will say what testing is needed before we quote anything. Cardiff Council notification is handled by us where the work requires it.