Emergency Electrician in Cumberland, Maine

When a tree comes down across a service drop in Cumberland, the damage usually falls on both sides of a line that matters. Central Maine Power owns the wires from the pole to the point where they attach to your house. Everything from the weatherhead down, including the service mast, the meter socket and the panel, belongs to the homeowner and has to be repaired by a licensed electrician before CMP will reconnect. After the December 2023 and January 2024 windstorms, that split meant many homes needed both a utility crew and an electrician before the lights came back.

If a line is on the ground, stay well away from it and anything it touches, and call Central Maine Power or 911; a downed wire can be live even when your house is dark. Once the utility has made the line safe, Goodnow Electric can replace a bent or torn mast, a pulled-off meter socket or a damaged weatherhead, and coordinate the reconnect with CMP. Emergency service runs 24 hours a day, which matters when a storm hits on a weekend night. Until the repair is made, keep the main breaker off if the mast or meter has been pulled away from the wall, and do not try to push a meter back into its socket yourself.

Storms are not the only emergencies. Call right away for an outlet or switch that is hot to the touch, sparks or buzzing from a panel, a burning smell with no obvious source, half the house going dead, or a main breaker that will not reset. In Cumberland's older farmhouses and 1970s homes, those symptoms often trace back to loose connections, overloaded circuits or aging breakers. Flooding is another risk: Route 100 in West Cumberland has flooded from the Piscataqua River in heavy rain, and water that reaches a basement panel or outlets means shutting power off at the main, only if you can do it from dry ground, and having everything inspected before it is turned back on.