Half My House Has No Power — What’s Going On and What to Do

The bedroom lights work. The kitchen is dead. The TV’s fine, but the fridge has gone silent. Half your house has power. The other half doesn’t.

It’s one of the most unsettling electrical problems you can experience — partly because a full blackout at least makes sense. This doesn’t. And you’re standing in front of the switchboard trying to figure out what’s going on.

Take a breath. We’ll walk you through it.

At Connex Electrical, our team handles partial power outages across North Brisbane and the Moreton Bay region almost daily — particularly after storms, during heatwaves, and in older homes from Chermside through to Caboolture. Owner Darren and lead electrician Lee have been diagnosing these faults for years, and in most cases, we can have your power restored the same day.

Here’s what’s likely happening, what you can safely check yourself, and when you need to pick up the phone.

Why Only Half the House?

Your home doesn’t run on a single circuit. It’s a network of multiple circuits, each controlled by its own circuit breaker at the switchboard. Each circuit powers a different zone or function — some handle lighting, others handle power points in specific rooms, and dedicated circuits run heavy appliances like aircon or ovens.

When one circuit fails while others stay on, you get a partial outage. The lights in the lounge room work because they’re on a different circuit to the power points in the kitchen.

Understanding this is key: a partial outage almost always means the problem is isolated to one part of the system — not the whole thing.

The 6 Most Common Causes of a Partial Power Outage

1. A Tripped Circuit Breaker — The Most Likely Cause

The single most common reason for losing power to part of your house is a tripped circuit breaker.

Circuit breakers trip when they detect too much current (overload) or a fault on that circuit. When one trips, only the rooms and power points on that specific circuit lose power. Everything else stays on.

Common triggers in Brisbane homes:

• Too many high-draw appliances running at the same time (kettle + microwave + air fryer + toaster = trip)
• A failing appliance sending a fault through the circuit
• Moisture in an outdoor power point after a storm
• A short circuit in the wiring

What to look for: Go to your switchboard. One breaker will be sitting in a middle position (not fully ON or OFF) or clearly flipped to OFF while the rest are ON. That’s your culprit.

2. A Tripped Safety Switch (RCD)

Safety switches protect you from electric shock by detecting tiny amounts of current leaking to earth. They’re separate from circuit breakers, though modern switchboards often combine both in a single device called an RCBO.

If a safety switch trips, it can knock out an entire group of circuits — which means you might lose power to several rooms at once while others stay fine.

How to tell the difference: Safety switches have a “TEST” button on the front. Circuit breakers don’t. If the device with a TEST button has tripped, it’s the safety switch.

Safety switches commonly trip due to:

• Faulty appliances leaking current to earth
• Water in outdoor fittings (very common during Brisbane storm season)
• Damaged wiring insulation
• Too many appliances on a single RCD-protected group

3. A Loose or Broken Neutral Connection — The Dangerous One

This is the one that worries electricians most.

Your home’s electrical supply needs three connections to work properly: active, neutral, and earth. If the neutral connection becomes loose, corroded, or broken — either at the switchboard, the meter box, or in the street supply — it creates uneven voltage across your circuits.

What a loose neutral looks like from inside the house:

• Lights in some rooms are dimmer than normal, while others are brighter than normal
• Lights flicker or surge when you turn on an appliance (like the aircon or a heater)
• Some appliances behave strangely — running faster or slower than usual
• You notice a burning smell with no obvious source

Why this is dangerous:

A loose neutral can send excessive voltage (well above the normal 230V) to some circuits while starving others. This can:

• Destroy expensive appliances — TVs, computers, fridges, aircon units
• Overheat wiring inside walls — creating a fire risk
• Cause electric shock if you touch metal surfaces connected to the affected circuit

If lights are simultaneously dimmer in some rooms and brighter in others, this is an emergency. Turn off what you can and call an electrician immediately.

4. A Blown Fuse (Older Switchboards)

If your home still has an older switchboard with ceramic rewirable fuses (common in pre-1990s Brisbane homes), a blown fuse is the equivalent of a tripped breaker — but harder to identify.

You can’t just look at a ceramic fuse and tell if it’s blown. The fuse wire inside has melted, but the fuse holder looks the same from the outside.

If your switchboard still uses ceramic fuses, it’s well overdue for a switchboard upgrade. Modern circuit breakers are safer, easier to identify when tripped, and provide much better protection for your home.

5. A Supply Fault From Energex

Here’s one that catches people off guard: sometimes, half your house losing power has nothing to do with your wiring at all.

In many Brisbane homes, power is delivered from the street as a single-phase 230V supply. But in some properties — particularly larger homes, homes with three-phase aircon, or homes in certain Energex supply areas — the supply may be split across phases.

If Energex has a fault on the street supply (a blown pole fuse, a damaged supply cable, or a transformer issue), it can knock out one phase while leaving the other intact. The result: half your house goes dark.

How to check if it’s an Energex issue:

1. Ask your neighbours if they’re also affected
2. Check the Energex outage tracker at energex.com.au — enter your address and it’ll show any known outages in your area
3. Call Energex on 13 62 62 (24/7 faults line) to report the outage

If it’s a supply fault, there’s nothing an electrician can do — Energex needs to fix it on their end. But if your neighbours are fine and you’ve still got a partial outage, the problem is inside your property.

6. Internal Wiring Fault

Less common, but still worth mentioning. A damaged or deteriorated cable inside a wall, roof space, or junction box can cause one section of your home to lose power while everything else works.

This is more likely if:

• Your home is older (pre-1990s wiring)
• You’ve had recent renovations or work done in the roof or walls
• You’re in a raised Queenslander with subfloor wiring exposed to moisture
• There’s been possum or rodent activity in the roof cavity

Internal wiring faults require professional fault-finding equipment — insulation resistance testing and circuit tracing — to locate and repair.

Step-by-Step: What You Can Safely Check

Follow this process before calling an electrician. It’ll either fix the problem or give us the information we need to diagnose it faster when we arrive.

Step 1: Check the Switchboard

Open the switchboard cover (the outer door — don’t remove any internal panels). Look for any breakers or safety switches that are in a different position to the others.

• Tripped breaker: Sitting in the middle position, or flipped to OFF
• Tripped safety switch: Sitting in the OFF position (will have a TEST button)

Step 2: Try a Reset

If you’ve identified a tripped device:

1. Push it fully to the OFF position first
2. Then push it firmly to ON
3. Wait 30 seconds

If it stays on — power should be restored. Monitor it. If it trips again within the next hour, move to Step 3.

If it trips immediately — there’s an active fault. Move to Step 3.

Step 3: Unplug Everything on the Affected Circuit

Go to every room that lost power and unplug everything. Everything. Kettle, microwave, toaster, phone chargers, TV, fridge — the lot.

Now go back and reset the breaker again.

If it holds with everything unplugged: Plug appliances back in one at a time, waiting a minute between each. When the breaker trips, that last appliance is the problem.

If it trips with everything unplugged: The fault is in your wiring, not an appliance. Leave the breaker off and call an electrician.

Step 4: Check Your Neighbours

Pop your head outside and see if the streetlights are on. Ask a neighbour if they’ve got power. If the whole street is affected, it’s likely an Energex supply issue.

Check the Energex outage map online, or call their 24/7 faults line on 13 62 62.

Step 5: Note What You’ve Found

Before you call an electrician, write down:

• Which breaker(s) tripped
• What was running when the power went out
• Whether it trips with everything unplugged
• Whether neighbours are affected
• Any unusual smells, sounds, or heat from the switchboard

This information saves time and helps us get to the root cause faster.

Warning Signs: When a Partial Outage Is Actually an Emergency

A partial outage from a simple tripped breaker is annoying but not dangerous. A partial outage from a deeper fault can be life-threatening. Here’s how to tell the difference.

Call an emergency electrician immediately if you notice:

If you experience any of these signs, do not keep resetting breakers. Turn off the main switch if you can do so safely, keep family members away from the switchboard, and call for emergency help.

What Happens When an Electrician Arrives

When our team responds to a partial outage, we don’t just flip the switch back on. We need to find out why it tripped. Here’s the typical process:

1. Switchboard inspection — Check for tripped devices, loose connections, signs of heat or corrosion, and proper labelling
2. Voltage testing — Measure voltage across all phases to check for imbalance (loose neutral indicator)
3. Insulation resistance testing — Test each circuit for leakage or breakdown
4. Load testing — Verify circuits aren’t overloaded under normal conditions
5. Supply check — If needed, test the mains supply to determine if the fault is on Energex’s side
6. Fault isolation and repair — Fix the identified cause, whether it’s a faulty breaker, damaged cable, or failing connection
7. Compliance certificate — Issue a Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work (CCEW) for any repairs

Why Partial Outages Are More Common in Brisbane

Several factors make North Brisbane and the Moreton Bay region particularly prone to partial power outages:

• Storm season (November–March): Intense storms drive rain into outdoor fittings, junction boxes, and switchboards. Lightning strikes cause surges that can trip multiple circuits. Falling branches can damage the Energex supply to your property.
• Humidity: Brisbane’s subtropical climate accelerates corrosion on terminals and connections, particularly in older switchboards and meter boxes.
• Heat: Sustained summer temperatures push aircon circuits to their limits. Heat also accelerates insulation breakdown in wiring.
• Older housing stock: Many homes across Aspley, Chermside, Kedron, Albany Creek, and other established North Brisbane suburbs were built with switchboards not designed for modern loads.
• Wildlife: Possums and rats chewing through wiring in roof cavities is one of the most common causes of wiring faults across the region.

How to Prevent Partial Outages

Once you’ve fixed the current issue, here’s how to minimise the risk of it happening again:

• Get your switchboard inspected — If it’s more than 15-20 years old, a professional electrical safety inspection can identify issues before they cause problems
• Upgrade your switchboard — Modern switchboards with RCBOs, proper circuit separation, and surge protection dramatically reduce tripping
• Install dedicated circuits — Heavy-draw appliances (aircon, oven, EV charger, pool pump) should have their own dedicated circuits
• Keep trees trimmed away from power lines — Vegetation contact is a leading cause of supply faults
• Don’t overload circuits — Spread high-draw appliances across different power points
• Replace ageing appliances — Old fridges, heaters, and washing machines are common fault sources

About Connex Electrical

Connex Electrical is based in Mango Hill, right in the heart of the Moreton Bay region. We’re licensed, insured, and backed by 494 Google reviews at 5.0 stars.

• QLD Electrical Contractor Licence #92217
• ARC Licence #AU42842
• Owner Darren and lead electrician Lee personally oversee every job

We specialise in emergency electrical callouts, switchboard upgrades, and fault-finding across North Brisbane.

Lost Power to Half Your House? Here’s What to Do Next.

Don’t keep resetting the breaker and hoping it’ll hold. If half your house has no power and you can’t identify a simple tripped breaker, you need a licensed electrician to find the actual cause.

📞 Call Connex Electrical on 0474 207 609 for same-day diagnostics and emergency callouts across North Brisbane and the Moreton Bay region.

We’re available for emergency electrical work across Mango Hill, North Lakes, Griffin, Kallangur, Petrie, Redcliffe, Margate, Scarborough, Deception Bay, Caboolture, Morayfield, Narangba, Burpengary, Chermside, Aspley, Kedron, Stafford, Albany Creek, Eatons Hill, and all surrounding suburbs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why has only half my house lost power?

Your home runs on multiple circuits, each controlled by a separate breaker at the switchboard. When one circuit trips or fails, only the rooms on that circuit lose power. Common causes include a tripped circuit breaker, a tripped safety switch, a loose neutral connection, or a supply fault from Energex.

Should I keep resetting the breaker if it keeps tripping?

No. If the breaker trips more than once, there’s an underlying fault that needs professional diagnosis. Repeatedly resetting a tripping breaker can worsen the fault and create additional fire risk. Reset it once. If it trips again, leave it off and call a licensed electrician.

Could the problem be with Energex, not my house?

Yes. If Energex has a supply fault (like a blown pole fuse), it can knock out power to part of your home. Check the Energex outage map at energex.com.au, ask your neighbours if they’re affected, or call the Energex faults line on 13 62 62 (24 hours).

Is a partial power outage dangerous?

It depends on the cause. A simple tripped breaker is generally not dangerous. However, a loose neutral connection — which can cause lights to simultaneously dim in some rooms and brighten in others — is a serious fire and appliance-damage risk. If you notice unusual voltage behaviour, call an electrician immediately.

How much does it cost to fix a partial power outage in Brisbane?

Costs vary depending on the cause. A simple reset costs nothing. Fault-finding typically starts from $200-$300. If the issue requires a switchboard upgrade or rewiring, costs can be higher — we always provide upfront pricing before starting work.