The lights in the house are turned off - where to call, what to do and what to do

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The lights in the house are turned off - who to call? This is the question that immediately comes to mind. This situation has happened to every person at least once in their life, and it often takes them by surprise. Why this can happen and what to do about it will be discussed in this article.

Man is so accustomed to the benefits of civilization that he no longer notices them. However, if the electricity suddenly goes out, even for a short period of time, it instantly becomes uncomfortable. It’s better to know in advance what to do if the power goes out in the whole house, where to call and what to do.

Analyze this

We must immediately, without delay, try to understand why the lights went out.

For example, you plugged in an iron, or turned on a chandelier in the hall, or there was a click in the entrance, or the smell of burnt insulation was coming from somewhere... In any case, correct diagnosis is the key to successful treatment (it’s not for nothing that I compared myself to a doctor)) .

Even if you cannot fix the problem yourself, this information will be valuable to the visiting electrician.

If the source of the problem can be eliminated (for example, unplug a burnt iron from the outlet), then this should be done. In this case, you must be careful - try not to touch the wires, and do it with one hand.

Troubleshooting

When the voltage in the socket is lost, you first need to find out the reason why there is light, but the sockets in the house do not work? It can be visible and hidden. The obvious reason is traces of burning and smoke. In another case, everything is more complicated, since diagnostics using electrical devices is needed.

You need to connect 2-3 different electrical appliances to the outlet. If none of them work, then we are convinced that the outlet is faulty. It is possible that the electrical appliance itself is faulty, then you need to connect it to other outlets and check the operation.

After we are convinced that the outlet is not working, we prepare the tools. Will need:

• a regular and indicator screwdriver;
• knife for stripping cores from insulation;
• pliers (handles must have dielectric pads);
• insulating tape;
• multimeter;
• the wire.

You may need a new circuit breaker or light switch. If there is a need to reinstall the socket in another location, then prepare a drill with a wide nozzle for drilling recesses for the socket glass, hammer and chisel, alabaster. If you need to work in distribution boxes, you will need a soldering iron. You also need to take care of the lighting of the work area; for this you need a carrying lamp.

3. Hands off!

Here I will give those cases in which this step should be the last. Not the last in my life. The last step in finding missing electricity.

So, if the light in the house goes out after:

• a bunch of sparks from an electrical panel, socket or junction box,
• smell of burning or heated plastic,
• messages about planned shutdown,

then you should not touch anything and rely on professionals.

These are the cases I'm talking about:

Burnt electrical wiring. You need a pro here.

From theory to practice

If the light went out in one of the rooms, the circuit breaker did not work, i.e. there was no short circuit, you need to take a probe and see what is happening in the sockets or switches, and if two phases are observed there, then you need to look for a zero break.

Reasons for missing zero

Zero can disappear for many reasons, the most common are listed below:

1. The old wiring could not withstand the load from modern electrical appliances. This is especially true for apartments where there are still traffic jams, and not modern electrical panels with circuit breakers and zero buses. If, for example, only the zero plug is knocked out, then the appearance of two phases in the sockets is guaranteed;
2. A short, small circuit leading to an open circuit. In this case, the circuit breaker may not react (as in our situation).
3. Oxidation and burning of contacts (as a result of the same short circuit) at the joints;
4. Electrochemical corrosion of copper and aluminum wires. For example, there may be such a situation, a copper neutral wire comes from the shield, and an aluminum one already approaches the socket. Considering that the wires can go directly into the room bypassing the junction box, we can assume that they are connected somewhere in the wall. If they are connected incorrectly, the contact between them could disappear, which will lead to a break in the zero;
5. Repair work without taking into account the location of wires in the apartment. Such work is unacceptable. Any drilling in the wall can lead to a break in both the neutral and phase wires, so it is important to use hidden wiring detectors to roughly draw up a diagram of its location.
6. Other reasons, for example, rodents chewing wires in old houses, etc.

The electrician himself

Next you need to do the following. Go to your home electrical panel. To do this, you may need to go out onto the landing. There you can find your protective circuit breakers (they are also called plugs, bags, or simply circuit breakers). Check if they are all enabled?

The circuit breaker is turned off in the electrical panel. Try turning it on?

If any machine in the panel is turned off , do not rush to turn it on immediately. Safety comes first, and machines don’t just turn off. Here's what you need to pay attention to:

• absence or darkening of insulation, it is better not to approach such places,
• do all manipulations in the shield with one hand, the second should be on the side and not touch anything,
• If the cause of the shutdown was your old iron, it must be unplugged from the outlet.

And only after that we turn on the machine.

In such shields, even I am afraid to turn on the machines). Remember - left hand behind your back! The heart muscle does not like electric current!

If all the machines are turned on , you need to make sure that there is no electricity for your neighbors. This can be done in several ways:

• ring the doorbell and ask
• look through the windows
• Pay attention to electricity meters, including your own. The red indicator will flash on the new counters, the old disk one will rattle slightly.

If the indicator on the meter is on or blinking, then electricity is supplied to the meter

If the neighbors are also sitting without electricity, then “being bored together is more fun.” And you can move on to Step 5.

The main reasons for turning off the lights

There are many reasons for power outages. Before you begin to act, you need to find out the reason for the blackout, and based on this, build your next steps. They are:

1. Technical.
2. Economic.

Technical reasons include:

• Planned power outage for the purpose of repair work. In this case you must be notified in advance. According to the law, electricity can be out for no more than 24 hours at a time. The total amount of time per year should not exceed 3 days.
• Emergency shutdown. No one is immune from force majeure situations, and here we need to be patient. In this case, the time is not regulated by law, and the light will be out for as long as it takes to troubleshoot.
• Unsatisfactory condition of consumer electrical appliances. If this may cause an emergency, then a representative of Rostechnadzor or the housing office makes a decision to stop supplying you with electricity until the comments are corrected. You must be notified in advance.
• Problems inside the house. Perhaps you were using more electrical appliances at the same time than the network can handle, or some of them are faulty. There may be problems with the wiring.

  Who to call if the lights are turned off?

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Economic reasons include:

• Financial indebtedness. If you have not paid for services provided within 3 months, the supplier has the right to stop supplying electricity, notifying you in advance and giving you time to repay the debt.
• Electricity consumption without meters. This is against the law and is considered fraudulently obtaining electricity.
• Consumption of electricity without a signed agreement with the operating company is also illegal.

Someone call someone!

If there is no light, and it was not possible to turn it on yourself, then there are several options for the development of events:

• If there is no light in the entire entrance, then you need to find out if anyone called somewhere. Or just wait patiently.
• If there is no light only in your apartment, and manipulations with the machines did not help, you need to turn to professionals for help - go to your neighbor Uncle Vasya, call an electrician on the phone from the newspaper or from the Internet, call the management company.

Option to call an electrician for Taganrozh residents:

Electrician for home Taganrog. Business card.

You can call the management company at the numbers indicated on the receipt:

Emergency phone numbers on the receipt, example

The single hotline number of IDGC of the South PJSC - Rostovenergo is 8 800-100-70-60
for residents of Rostov-on-Don and the Rostov region.

If you are in another city, you need to act in the same way - look for a specialist via the Internet, newspapers, or call an emergency crew. However, the emergency service will help for free only if the problem occurs before entering the apartment. The rest is for an additional fee.

When you call, try to encourage the electrician to have a frank conversation - in my experience, almost half of the cases are resolved over the phone.

Another piece of advice - if you called a specialist, but after some time the problem somehow went away, take the trouble to call again and tell him not to come. I have had many times when I arrived on call, and everything was already working. And in any case, an electrician will not leave without money)

In what cases can a power outage be carried out?

Before you figure out how to turn off the lights in an apartment for non-payment, you need to find out what the company providing the service means by this term. If the consumer was unable for some reason to repay the debt for the past month, then his electricity will not be turned off. But if payments were delayed for two months or more, then this is already considered a serious violation, and utility companies have a reason to legally turn off the electricity. Here, too, not everything is done as quickly as it seems: they came, turned off the lights for non-payment without going to court, and that’s it.

The consumer must be notified of the debt and that the contractor may limit or completely suspend the supply of electricity. This requirement is mandatory, otherwise the disconnection will be unreasonable and illegal, even though there is a debt.

There is no electricity in half the apartment, the machines are on

If the switches are turned on after a power outage, the cause of the malfunction may be as follows:

• The contact in one of the junction boxes with the twists or terminals of the electrical wires is broken;
• The machine itself is faulty (the problem is rare);
• The wiring has broken - this happens during repairs when a tool breaks through the inside of the wiring.

Usually, the problem lies in the junction box and oxidized contacts. Check their integrity and, if necessary, redo the twisting. If the work is carried out independently, then first turn off the electricity supply circuit breakers in the apartment and begin work only after that. The best solution would be to immediately contact a technician who will determine the causes of the malfunction, eliminate it, diagnose the problem and carry out work to prevent repeated breakdowns.

Need an electrician's help? Call

Without electricity in the house, normal human life is impossible. All household appliances, lights, and electronics run on electricity. Without power, people cannot do most household chores. Electricity can be lost for various reasons - accidents at a substation, breakdowns in the power line, non-payment of bills, connection of powerful devices. Before restoring the power grid, it is necessary to determine why the electricity went out. Every owner should know what to do if the electricity in the apartment goes out.

Where can I find out why the power was turned off? Power outage schedule in Moscow and the Moscow region

In this section, in order to inform citizens, weekly schedules for limiting energy supply in common areas of multi-apartment residential buildings are published in connection with debt for consumed electricity from management organizations, as well as weekly schedules for limiting energy supply to housing and communal services in connection with debt from resource supply organizations .

Restriction schedule from 02/28/2022 to 03/05/2022

• Schedule of power outages in common areas of apartment buildings in the Moscow region
• Schedule of power outages in common areas of apartment buildings in Moscow

Which categories of the population do not have the right to turn off the lights for non-payment?

If there is a debt for more than 2 months for electricity, then this is already grounds for stopping the supply of light. But this rule also has its exceptions - not all categories of citizens are allowed by law to turn off electricity for non-payment. Among them:

• disabled people;

• veterans;
• pregnant women;
• minor children.

If any representative of these groups has a debt on electricity and his services have been suspended, then he must submit documents to the office of the management company. The person to whom the benefit is granted must be the owner of the residential premises or be a member of his family. In this case, the person must be registered at the address where the power was turned off.

Rules and process for disconnecting electricity

The mechanism for turning off the light is the same for all subscribers. The electrician opens the panel, disconnects the wires that supply a specific room with electricity from the general network and seals them.

For individuals

If we are talking about an apartment building or an apartment, then it is important to determine the number of the living space on the panel so as not to accidentally disconnect the wrong subscriber.

In a private house, the disconnection occurs from the network that provides light to the street or cottage community. The same mechanism applies to a house in the country.

The garages have electricity meters and are connected by the garage cooperative to the power line. They are cut off by disconnecting the cable leading from the power line to the premises. The payment of utility bills is monitored by the chairman of the GSK.

It is allowed to limit the supply of electricity to residential apartments. This is done by sealing energy-intensive appliances and leaving the light bulbs on.

Legal entities

They have responsibilities for making utility payments on the same basis as individuals, so a similar notification procedure applies to them. An electrician comes on the appointed day and disconnects their premises from the network of the shopping center or apartment building where the office or store is located. Legal entities have 10 days to pay the debt.

Illegal shutdown

If the management company has turned off the electricity for non-payment, it must support all its actions with documentation and reasons, especially when it comes to ensuring decent living conditions for the population.

There are cases where companies illegally turn off the lights. That is why strict control is exercised over how the procedure occurs and for what reasons the decision was made not to provide this subscriber with its services.

Even though the grounds for turning off the light seemed to be justified, the subscriber has every right to file a lawsuit to appeal the decision. The presence of debt does not always legally deprive the subscriber of the supplied service. There are several situations that may deem the actions of utility companies illegal:

1. Failure to comply with the established procedure. Most often this happens in cases where the company does not send a notice of debt or does not have supporting documents for this.
2. The service was not fully restored. There have been cases when, even after repaying the debt and paying the receipt for reconnection, the terms for returning the service were not met. The sealing of the meter is removed no later than 24 hours after payment of the reconnection receipt.
3. Damage to the general communications of the house. There have been cases when, during the sealing of the debtor's meter, other power lines were affected, which led to an accident and loss of power to other subscribers.

If violations of this kind have been noticed, then the tenant of the house has the right to go to court with a statement of claim, in which he not only tells how everything happened, but also confirms all his actions with documents or testimony.