Service
Half house no power: causes and who to call
Most US homes are fed by two 120-volt legs. Lose one and roughly half the house goes dark.
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Written by HyreElectrical Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The short answer
Half house no power usually means one of the two incoming 120-volt legs is lost: a utility fault on the line, a failed connection at the meter or main lugs, or a tripped or failed main breaker.
Lights that work while the stove, dryer and AC do not point the same way. Call the utility first, then an electrician if the utility side tests fine.
Stop first if the meter or panel is damaged
If you see a burned meter, a downed line or smoke, stay away, call 911 and the utility. Do not touch the panel.
The safe checks
Look at the panel. Reset any tripped breakers once, including the main. Check whether neighbors have lost power too.
If 240-volt appliances fail and half the outlets are dead, report a partial outage to your utility. Ready.gov advises unplugging electronics so a surge on restore does not damage them.
What happens next
The utility checks the line, transformer and drop. If its side is good, an electrician tests the meter base, main lugs and main breaker. Burned lugs or a failing main breaker are common finds.
Repairs at the meter base or service conductors usually need a permit and a utility disconnect.
Time and what changes the price
Utility repairs on its side are usually not billed to you. Electrician work depends on whether the fault is a breaker, a lug or the meter base.
Price drivers: main breaker vs bus damage, meter base replacement, aluminum service conductor repairs, and permit. No price ranges are published here; see cost guides.
How this differs from a single dead room
A partial outage that follows a pattern across the house, odd-numbered rooms working and others not, is a supply problem on one leg. One room or one wall going dark is usually a single circuit, a tripped GFCI or a failed splice, and is covered on power out in one room.
Lights that are unusually bright in some rooms and dim in others is a different and more urgent sign. That pattern can be a lost neutral, which can damage appliances. Turn off electronics and call the utility.
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Questions
Why do some lights work but not the stove?
Is a partial outage dangerous?
Should I call the utility or an electrician?
Can a breaker cause this?
Written and audited by
HyreElectrical Research Desk
Primary-source research and fact checking
We read the model code, the federal safety notice, the municipal fee sheet or the utility tariff ourselves, and we publish the figure with the document it came from and the date we retrieved it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify. HyreElectrical does not perform, supervise or warrant electrical work. Authorship is organizational: this desk, not a named persona.
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- of the store is Florida — disclosed first, not footnoted
How this desk works
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HyreElectrical is a publisher. It does not perform, supervise, inspect or warrant electrical work, holds no electrical license, and matching is still being built, so an inquiry is not a service call.
This page is general information, not a diagnosis or a quote. Code rules vary by the NEC edition your state or city adopted and its local amendments.