What it usually means, the likely causes in order, what to safely try first, what a pro charges in Canada, and when to stop and call one.
This guide covers the common cases. Describe your exact problem and get a personalized diagnosis — free to start, with a DIY vs. call-a-pro verdict and a real cost estimate.
No power at all to a fixture or outlet means current is not reaching that point, and the break is usually in a short list of places: a tripped breaker, a tripped GFCI upstream, a failed switch or outlet, or a dead connection upstream in the circuit. It feels alarming when a light or outlet dies without warning, but a single dead point is rarely the whole house failing. Start by mapping the outage. Is it one outlet, one room, or several fixtures on the same circuit? That map tells you whether you are looking at a device failure at the end of the line or an interruption much closer to the panel.
One dead outlet or fixture with everything else working is not an emergency and can wait for a normal booking. It becomes urgent if the outage is wide, if the panel is warm, buzzing, or smells burnt, if power was lost after water entered the area, or if a fridge, sump pump, or medical device is on the dead circuit. Do not keep resetting or forcing power into a circuit that will not stay on.
The most common cause. An overload or a brief fault trips the breaker, which sits in a middle position rather than fully off. Reset it once, firmly to off and then on. If it trips again immediately with nothing new running, stop resetting it - the breaker is reporting a fault on the circuit, not a nuisance.
In kitchens, bathrooms, garages, and outdoors, one GFCI outlet often protects several regular outlets downstream. When it trips, the downstream outlets look completely dead even though the breaker is fine. The dead outlets are not broken - they are waiting for the GFCI upstream to be found and reset.
Power travels from outlet to outlet along a circuit. A loose or failed connection at an earlier outlet, switch, or junction can cut off everything after it while earlier points still work. This is why testing nearby points on the same circuit matters - the pattern of what is live and what is dead shows where the break sits.
Sometimes the circuit is live and the end device has failed: a switch with worn contacts, an outlet that has lost internal grip and connection, or a fixture with a failed socket or driver. If only one controlled fixture is dead and other points on the circuit work, the device itself moves to the top of the list.
| Job size | Typical estimate (CAD) |
|---|---|
| Simple fix — the straightforward version of this repair | $130–$280 |
| Major job — complex, hidden, or replacement-level work | $500–$2,500 |
Estimates only, calibrated to Greater Toronto Area trade rates and adjusted by region on this site — not a quote. Your exact price depends on the cause, parts, and access. A personalized diagnosis narrows this range using your specific symptom.
Homeowner-safe steps stop at the panel surface and the plug: checking and resetting a breaker once, finding and resetting a GFCI, unplugging loads, and testing with a lamp. Everything past that - opening outlets, switches, junction boxes, or the panel interior, tracing a dead connection, or replacing a device on a circuit you cannot confidently isolate - is licensed-electrician work in most places. Call a pro if the breaker re-trips, if several points are dead with no tripped protection found, if the outage followed water or burning smells, or if you are not certain which breaker controls the circuit.
A breaker that looks on can still be tripped - turning it fully off and then on is the proper reset. If that does not restore power, look for a tripped GFCI upstream on the same circuit, especially in bathrooms and kitchens, and test whether neighbouring points are also dead. A dead stretch with a healthy breaker usually means a failed connection somewhere along the circuit.
Rooms are often split across circuits, and a single circuit chains through several outlets. A break or failed device early in that chain kills everything downstream while the rest of the room, fed from a different circuit or an earlier point, keeps working. Mapping exactly which points are dead is the clue that locates the break without opening walls.
If the breaker is holding, there is no heat, buzzing, or burning smell, and only one end point is dead, using the live points normally is usually reasonable while you book a repair. Stop using the whole circuit and call an electrician if the breaker trips again, if outlets feel warm, or if lights on that circuit flicker or behave strangely.
It can be, especially in older homes or if dead outlets keep appearing in different places. A single failure is often just an aged device or a loose connection at one box. Repeated failures, warm cover plates, or discolouration around an outlet deserve a full inspection, because they can point to deteriorating connections that should not be fixed one symptom at a time.
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