A power point that’s stopped working is one of those problems that’s either trivially simple or genuinely serious, with not much in between.
Here’s how to tell which one you’ve got — and the two-minute check that solves it about a third of the time.
Start here: the two-minute check
Before anything else:
Test the appliance somewhere else. Sounds obvious. Solves this more often than you’d expect.
Check the switch on the outlet. Also obvious. Also frequently the answer.
Check your switchboard. Look for a tripped breaker or safety switch — a switch sitting between on and off, or clearly down when the others are up. If you find one, reset it once. If it holds, you’re done. If it trips again, stop and read on.
Check the other outlets in the same room. If they’re all dead, it’s the circuit. If it’s just this one, it’s the outlet.
That’s the safe end of it. Everything below needs a licensed electrician — in Victoria, opening up a power point is electrical work regardless of how confident you feel about it.
1. A tripped breaker or safety switch
The most common cause of a dead outlet, and the easiest to fix.
If it resets and holds, something momentarily overloaded the circuit or a faulty appliance caused a leak. Note what was plugged in.
If it won’t reset, or trips again straight away, there’s a real fault on that circuit and it needs finding.
2. A loose connection in the outlet
The most common cause of an outlet that works intermittently, and the one that matters.
Behind every power point are terminals where the cable is clamped. Over the years — thermal cycling, vibration, or simply not being tightened properly in the first place — these work loose.
A loose connection arcs. Arcing produces heat. Heat degrades the surrounding plastic and insulation. This is one of the most common origins of electrical fires in homes.
Warning signs: the outlet works when you jiggle the plug; the faceplate is warm; there’s brown or yellow discolouration around the pin holes; you can smell hot plastic; you’ve seen a spark on plugging in.
Any of those is a call today, not a call next week. See emergency and fault finding.
3. Worn-out contacts
Power points have a service life. The metal contacts inside grip the plug pins, and after twenty or thirty years of plugging and unplugging, they lose tension.
How to tell: the plug feels loose in the socket, or falls out under the weight of its own cable. Poor contact means resistance, and resistance means heat.
If your outlets are original to a house built before the 1990s, replacement is cheap, quick and worth doing — particularly for the ones that get used daily. Power point replacement is one of the fastest jobs we do.
4. A fault further along the circuit
Power points are wired in a loop. If a connection fails at one point, everything downstream of it goes dead.
How to tell: several outlets stopped working at once, in a sequence around the room, and the breaker hasn’t tripped.
This needs tracing. It’s usually a failed connection in another outlet, a junction box in the roof space, or damaged cable — often from a screw or nail during renovation work, or pests.
5. Old or damaged wiring
The one that turns a small job into a bigger conversation.
In Melbourne’s older homes we regularly find rubber-insulated cable from the fifties and sixties that’s gone brittle, aluminium wiring from a specific era that’s prone to connection failure, or cable that possums and rats have been at in the roof space.
How to tell: multiple intermittent problems around the house rather than a single failure, breakers tripping on different circuits, or a home that simply hasn’t been touched electrically in forty years.
If that’s the picture, a house rewire is the honest answer. We’ll tell you if it isn’t.
The signs that mean stop
Turn the circuit off at the board and call immediately if you have:
- A burning or hot-plastic smell
- A warm or hot faceplate
- Scorching or discolouration around the outlet
- Sparks or a crackling sound
- A buzzing sound from the outlet or switchboard
- A breaker that won’t reset
None of those is a wait-and-see situation. Every one of them is the warning you get before something worse.
While you’re getting it fixed
If we’re coming out for one outlet, it’s usually worth thinking about the room as a whole. Adding outlets where you’re currently running double adaptors removes a genuine fire risk and costs very little on top of a visit that’s already happening.
Worth considering at the same time: USB outlets in bedrooms and the kitchen, recessed power points behind a wall-mounted TV or a fridge cavity, weatherproof outdoor outlets, and — if the board is old — whether RCD protection is there at all.
Talk to us
We work across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs from Hawthorn — Kew, Camberwell, Balwyn, Richmond, Glen Iris and surrounds. We’ll find the actual fault rather than swapping parts until something works, and we’ll tell you if it’s a five-minute fix.
Registered Master Electrician. Over 200 five-star Google reviews. Lifetime workmanship warranty.
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Power Point Fault FAQs
Check if the circuit breaker has tripped and reset it. If the problem persists, consult a licensed electrician.
Yes, a faulty appliance can trip safety switches. Try unplugging the appliance and see if the power point works with other devices.
If multiple devices are plugged into one circuit and frequently cause the breaker to trip, it might be overloaded. Consider redistributing your appliances or upgrading your electrical system.
Replacing a power point can be dangerous. It's recommended to hire a professional electrician to ensure it is done safely and up to code.
Signs include flickering lights, burning smells, or sparking from outlets. If you notice these signs, contact an electrician immediately.
It is recommended to have your electrical system inspected by a qualified electrician every 2 years, or more frequently if you have an older home or signs of electrical issues.
