So, you are sitting around and relaxing on a Friday night when your electricity suddenly goes off. There are no storms outside and there were no signs that a power outage was about to occur, so what are you supposed to do now? Losing power can be a frustrating experience but, by taking a few simple steps, you can isolate the problem and determine what your next step should be.

Determining the Cause of the Problem

The first step you need to take is to determine if the electrical problem exists in your home or if you are part of a general power outage that is affecting other people. If the outage occurs at night, you can probably simply look around your home in order to see if your neighbor's have lost power too. If it is during the day, on the other hand, you will need to give one of your neighbors a call in order to see if their electricity went out too. Another option is to check your circuit breaker main disconnect and see if it has been tripped to the OFF position. If you are experiencing a general power outage, you will need to simply call your power company and let the company take care of the problem.

Dealing with a Home Power Outage

If the problem does not appear to be a general power outage, you will need to find out what is causing the problem in your home. If the main breaker is still in the ON position and your neighbors have power, the problem is somewhere between your main entrance panel and your power transmission lines. This can be caused by a number of things, including an overloaded pole transformer or a downed service drop. In this case, the repair is still the responsibility of the power company and you should give the company a call.

If you have a tripped main breaker or if there is a blown main fuse, on the other hand, the problem is actually in your house. Possible reasons for the power outage include having a dead short somewhere in your house or having a system overload. Both of these can be serious problems, which means you should probably call an electrician to help you repair the problem. Or, if you have taken the proper electrical courses, you may be able to make the repair yourself. Either way, you should not reset the breaker. Rather, you will need to turn off everything in the house and then start troubleshooting the problem so you can make the necessary repairs.