No electricity? In most cases you can safely narrow down the cause yourself in a few minutes — and often fix it without an electrician.

Step 1: is it only your home?

Check whether neighbours or street lighting are also out. If so it is a grid outage — check the storingsmelding at your grid operator (Stedin, Liander) and wait. Your installation is fine.

Step 2: check the fuse box

See which switch is down. A tripped earth-leakage switch (aardlekschakelaar) or breaker points to a fault inside your home. Switch it back on once; if it trips again, a device or cable is faulty.

Step 3: find the faulty appliance

Unplug everything on the affected circuit, reset the switch, then reconnect appliances one by one. The one that trips it is the culprit. If the switch will not reset at all, call an electrician — do not keep forcing it.

Practical information from Oleksandr Volkov, electrical engineer and electrician with 25+ years of experience.