Who to call for a burning smell from a power point

Short answer

A licensed electrician, today, and in the meantime turn that circuit off at the switchboard. A burnt smell at an outlet means a connection is arcing or overheating, and the failure mode that follows is a fire inside a wall cavity where nothing will see it start.

Treat as urgentThis is one to act on now rather than book for next week.

What to do before anyone arrives

  1. Unplug whatever is in it, without touching the outlet face if it is hot or discoloured.
  2. Turn off the circuit at the switchboard. If you cannot identify the circuit, turn off the main switch.
  3. Do not use that outlet again, and do not use a power board as a workaround on the adjacent one — the fault is often the wiring shared between them.
  4. Look for brown or black staining around the outlet or the switch, and photograph it.

What to ask when you book

  • Will you check the terminations on the rest of that circuit, not just the failed outlet? Overheating at one point usually means the same installation practice elsewhere.
  • Will you provide a certificate of electrical safety for the work?
  • Is the cable behind it damaged, and does that section need replacing?

What changes the price

No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.

  • Whether the damage stops at the accessory or has run back into the cable.
  • Whether the circuit is aluminium or old cable with perished insulation.
  • How many points on the circuit need checking and re-terminating.

What you can do yourself

Is this licensed work?

Licensed electrical work everywhere in Australia. An electrician must provide a certificate of electrical safety or equivalent for the work in most states; ask for it.

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.

Common questions

Who to call for a burning smell from a power point
A licensed electrician, today, and in the meantime turn that circuit off at the switchboard. A burnt smell at an outlet means a connection is arcing or overheating, and the failure mode that follows is a fire inside a wall cavity where nothing will see it start.
Can I just stop using that power point?
No. A loose or arcing connection does not need the outlet to be in use to fail — a circuit that is live is energised at that terminal whether anything is plugged in or not. Turn the circuit off, not just the appliance.
What causes a power point to overheat?
Most often a terminal screw that was never fully tightened, or one that has loosened over decades of thermal cycling, so the connection develops resistance and the resistance develops heat. Sustained high loads on an outlet never designed for them — a portable heater on an old circuit — bring it on sooner.

Find a Electrician near you

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Businesses that say they take emergency callouts

Who to hire for

General information about who does what, not advice about your specific job. Licensing, consumer law and council rules differ by state and change; the regulator for your state is the current source. More guides to hiring a tradesperson.