Pravozhil.com > Housing and communal services issues > Utilities > Housing and communal services problems > The lights in the house were turned off - where to call, what to do and what to do
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.
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:
- Technical.
- 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?
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.
What does it mean to turn off the electricity?
There are at least two options:
- The supply of electricity to the electricity meter is stopped. At the same time, you have safe access to all electrical appliances, switching devices and power cables in your area of responsibility.
- The line is disconnected after the meter. In this case, only the internal networks will be de-energized: the power wiring from the energy supplier to the electric meter remains energized.
It is prohibited to interfere with the operation of electricity metering devices (meters) by disconnecting or connecting the wiring. Power can only be switched off using switching (and at the same time protective) components designed for this purpose.
The lights in the house are turned off - where to call and what to do
To understand what to do if the power is turned off in a private home, you need to determine the reason. If the power outage was unexpected, then you did not receive a notification. First of all, you need to disconnect all electrical appliances from the power supply.
Then you can go to the machine and check what condition it is in. If you see that any lever is in the "off" position, turn it on, first making sure that nearby wires are not singed and that you do not smell a burning smell.
If everything is in order with the machine, it means that most likely there is an emergency shutdown. To find out exactly the reasons and future prospects, you need to call special services.
- Rescue service 112. You can call this number even without a SIM card in your phone. Convenient service, the service receives all emergency calls and then redirects you where you need to go.
- You can call the management company or emergency service number indicated on your payment receipt.
- Call the emergency number in your area. You can check the number in the telephone directory or look it up on the Internet. It would be a good idea to record the phone numbers in the memory of your mobile device.
If the machine is in the entrance, and the meter is in the apartment
Quite a common situation. The dashboard can be organized neatly, with signed apartments, or randomly (most often).
In this case, the identity of the machine can only be determined visually by tracing the path of the wire. In practice, this is impossible to do - the wire simply goes into the common channel.
Important! You should not search for your machine at random, that is, turn off all the switches one by one until you find the one you need.
You can turn off the electricity in your neighbors' apartment, causing a conflict situation. In addition, this method (without warning) can damage electrical appliances or destroy information on a personal computer.
It would be more correct to call an electrician from the service company and ask them to accurately identify your circuit breaker. After that, try to make an information plate with apartment numbers on your own (although this is the direct responsibility of the power engineers).
Advice: whenever possible, install a circuit breaker in your apartment after your meter.
The value of the tripping current does not matter: this is not a protective device - but a simple switch. The main thing is that the parameter is not lower than on the circuit breaker in the driveway panel. With this switch, you can always turn off the power to the apartment for work, or simply when leaving for a long period of time.
Important: with such a disconnection, you will remove the voltage from the electrical wiring in the apartment, but the meter will remain connected.
Activities of emergency services
Emergency repair services come to the rescue when unforeseen situations arise. Your call is received by a dispatcher, who must correctly identify the problem and dispatch the appropriate team to resolve it. The responsibilities of emergency service workers include:
- Monitoring the condition of objects in the assigned territory.
- Timely response to received complaints.
- Detecting the causes of the incident and eliminating the accident.
- Elimination of emergency consequences.
- Carrying out preventive work.
The emergency service works around the clock, and they do not have days off, so you can call them at any time of the day. There is no need to pay for calling a brigade.
However, please note that they will carry out the check to the door to the house. Anything inside the premises is not their responsibility and can be inspected and corrected for an additional fee.
Can the owner refuse electricity supply?
The owner of the apartment can initiate the procedure for turning off the power supply if there are legal grounds for doing so. Such reasons are reflected in section XI of the Government of the Russian Federation of May 6, 2011 No. 354 “On the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings.”
- First of all, this is arrears of payment. This reason is relevant in cases where the owner rents out his apartment, and the tenant does not fulfill his obligations regarding its maintenance. In these cases, the owner has the right to initiate a procedure for turning off the current (how is electricity cut off for non-payment?).
- Another reason is the performance of repair work when it concerns the replacement of wiring and electrical equipment. In such cases, tension poses a threat to life. Therefore, the power supply must be turned off.
Safety measures when disconnecting the apartment from the power supply
- Before turning off the power to the apartment, turn off all electrical appliances and unplug them from the sockets. Modern TVs, computers and stereos are in standby mode even when turned off.
- Before turning off the machine, check the functionality of the voltage indicator by connecting the measuring contact to the socket or phase terminal of the machine.
- After de-energizing the apartment, re-check the absence of voltage on the phase and neutral conductors.
- If the circuit breaker is located in the entrance, it is necessary to take measures against unauthorized activation. Hang a sign that says “Do not turn on, people are working!” to your machine. It’s better to have an assistant next to the shield while the work is being carried out.
- After completing the work, before applying voltage, check whether there are any connected electrical appliances left in the apartment. If you do something wrong, you can damage the equipment.
- After connecting the apartment, check the voltage value in the network using a multimeter. After making sure that the power supply system is working properly, you can use electrical appliances.
How to find the right machine?
Some would-be electricians on the forums recommend acting logically and turning off the circuit breaker that corresponds to the location of the apartment on the floor. This shutdown method is extremely unsafe, because there is a possibility of an illogical arrangement of the protective automation. As a result, you will turn off your neighbors' lights, and if you decide to replace the outlet at this moment, you may suffer from electric shock.
If you don’t know which circuit breaker is yours, it is best to warn your neighbors that they may lose electricity for a few minutes and at that time, use the method of elimination to find your circuit breaker. All you need is an indicator screwdriver, which you will use to check the presence of voltage in the outlet. We talked about how to use an indicator screwdriver in the corresponding article!
Once you find your own circuit breaker, we recommend signing it to avoid this problem in the future! It is enough to simply write the apartment number with a marker above the device and subsequent blackouts will be more understandable!
Floor shield
There is a misconception that appeared not so long ago. According to him, when searching for the required toggle switch on the dashboard, you need to follow the logic and “turn off the switch” located in accordance with the apartment on the floor landing.
Warn your neighbors if the machines are not signed!
This recommendation is wrong. By following it, you risk getting into an unpleasant situation by suddenly cutting off the power supply in a neighboring apartment. What if he filled out an important document while working remotely?
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
What to do if there is an RCD in the panel
The poor condition of electrical panels in old houses requires reinsurance to avoid fires and casualties. Therefore, in many cases, protection devices (RCDs) are installed to ensure stability in the power supply circuit.
RCD - residual current device
They are designed to automatically turn off power in the event of a sudden electrical leak and do this in milliseconds. If this protective device (RCD) is installed in the panel, then in order to turn off the electricity in the apartment, you can limit yourself to simply turning off the RCD. It’s better to turn off both it and the machine.
