Emergency Electrician in South Portland, Maine

Two kinds of emergencies come up in a harbor city. The first is water. When a surge pushes into low streets, as it did in January 2024, basements can take in salt water, and any panel, outlet, water heater or furnace control that got wet should stay off until an electrician has checked it; salt residue keeps conducting and corroding long after the water drains. The second is the everyday kind: a burning smell, a hot outlet, sparks at a plug, a breaker that trips again the moment it is reset, or a main that will not stay on. If the main breaker can be reached without risk, turn it off; if there is smoke, call 911 before anyone else.

Lines down on the street belong to Central Maine Power, so keep well away and report them to CMP or 911. The overhead drop and the meter are CMP’s; the steel mast, the meter enclosure and the wiring from there inward are the property owner’s. In a nor’easter, ice-laden limbs and heavy snow can pull a drop hard enough to bend the mast or loosen the meter socket, and salt air along the shoreline corrodes exposed masts and fittings over time, which makes them more likely to fail in a storm. The city requires a CMP work order number for any service replacement, so that request is started right away. Along the harbor, a mast that shows rust at its base or a meter enclosure with a swollen, pitted door is worth replacing on a calm day rather than waiting for the storm that finishes it off.

Goodnow Electric runs a 24-hour emergency line. Making the building safe comes first, whether that means cutting off a failed circuit, isolating a panel that took on water or bracing a damaged service. The lasting repair is then done under a city permit and inspection, with CMP de-energizing and re-energizing the service. One burned connection in an old panel is often a warning about the rest of it, so a broader check while the power is already off is usually worthwhile.