If a plug socket is not working, the most common causes are a tripped circuit breaker, a faulty appliance, or a loose connection behind the socket itself. Before assuming the socket is broken, test the appliance in another socket and check your consumer unit for a tripped switch. If the socket smells of burning, looks scorched or feels warm, stop using it immediately and call an electrician — that is a fire risk, not a fault-finding exercise.
Quick safe checks before you call anyone
Everything below is done with plugs and the switches on the front of your consumer unit — nothing here needs a screwdriver, and that’s deliberate. Never remove a socket faceplate or the consumer unit cover: the terminals behind them can be live even when the socket appears dead.
- Test the appliance in another socket. The most common finding on “dead socket” call-outs is a dead appliance. Try it in a socket you know works; if it’s still lifeless, the appliance (or the fuse in its plug) is the problem, not the socket.
- Try a different appliance in the suspect socket. The reverse test — plug in a lamp or phone charger you know works. If it lights up, it was the appliance all along.
- Check the consumer unit for a tripped MCB or RCD. Look for a switch sitting down or halfway while the others point up. Push it fully down to OFF, then firmly up to ON. If it holds, you’re done. If it trips again straight away, leave it off — see our guide to a fuse box that keeps tripping, or if it’s the RCD refusing to hold, RCD won’t reset.
- Check whether other sockets nearby are also dead. Test the sockets in the same room and the rooms either side with your known-good lamp or charger. Whether the fault is one socket or several changes the diagnosis completely — see the next section.
- Check the socket’s own switch and anything upstream. Switched sockets get knocked off behind furniture, and extension leads have their own switches and fuses — plug directly into the wall to rule them out.
That’s the full list. If the socket is still dead after these checks, the fault is in the fixed wiring or the socket itself, and everything from here on is an electrician’s job.
One dead socket or several? What each one tells you
One socket dead, everything else working: the fault is local to that socket — most often a loose or burnt connection on its terminals, or a worn-out socket mechanism. The circuit breaker won’t trip for this; the circuit simply stops delivering power at that one point.
Several sockets dead in one room or area: almost always a whole circuit is off. Check the consumer unit first — a tripped MCB kills every socket it feeds. If nothing is tripped but a group of sockets is dead, you may have a broken ring or a failed connection at one socket that feeds the ones after it — the same pattern we cover in no power in half the house, and one that needs proper testing rather than guesswork.
Sockets dead across the whole property: a main switch or RCD has gone, or there’s a supply problem — check neighbours’ lights before calling anyone.
Socket works sometimes, or power cuts in and out: treat this as more serious than a socket that’s simply dead. Intermittent power almost always means a loose connection that is arcing, and arcing generates heat. If lights dip or flicker at the same time, that points to a loose connection further upstream — our lights flickering page covers that pattern.
The likely causes, ranked by how often we find them
- A tripped circuit. The most common and the cheapest — an MCB or RCD has operated, usually because an appliance overloaded the circuit or leaked current to earth. Resetting it is often the end of the matter; repeated tripping means a fault that needs finding.
- A faulty appliance. Second on the list and easily mistaken for a socket fault. Kettles, irons, heaters and anything with a heating element are the usual culprits, along with blown fuses in the plug top.
- A loose connection behind the socket. Terminal screws work loose over years of heating and cooling under load. The connection resists, heats, burns and eventually fails — which is why a long-dead socket often shows scorched terminals when we open it up.
- A broken ring circuit. Most London homes have sockets wired as a ring. If the ring breaks at one point — a burnt connection, a damaged cable, a DIY alteration — some sockets can die while others stay live, and the survivors may be quietly overloaded. Only continuity testing reveals it.
- A worn-out socket. The internal contacts lose their spring after thousands of insertions, grip the pins poorly, overheat and fail. A socket that only works when the plug is wiggled is telling you its contacts are finished.
When a dead socket is urgent
Most dead sockets can wait for a routine daytime visit. Treat it as urgent if there’s a burning or fishy smell near the socket, scorch marks on the faceplate, a faceplate warm to the touch, buzzing or crackling, or sparks when plugging in — all signs of an arcing connection generating serious heat behind the wall, and the precursor to an electrical fire. Stop using the socket, switch off that circuit at the consumer unit if you can identify it, and read our guide to a burning smell from a socket. Out of hours, our 24-hour emergency electrician service in London exists for precisely this call.
What our electrician will do
- Confirm the extent of the fault — one socket, part of a circuit, or a whole circuit — and isolate it safely
- Inspect the terminations behind the affected socket for loose, burnt or failed connections
- Run continuity tests on the ring to find breaks and prove every socket is properly fed
- Test insulation resistance where damage or DIY work is suspected
- Repair the connection or replace the socket, then test the circuit before re-energising it
You get a plain-English explanation of what we found and why it failed. As a NICEIC Approved Contractor, our repairs are carried out and certified to BS 7671, so a fixed fault stays fixed.
What it costs
Our minimum charge for any visit is £108 including VAT (£90 + VAT), covering attendance and fault-finding. Prices are labour-only, and a single faulty socket is usually diagnosed and repaired within that first visit. If further work is needed — a cable replaced, several sockets renewed, a ring repaired — we quote a fixed price before it starts, so you decide with the numbers in front of you.
Frequently asked questions
Can I replace a plug socket myself?
We’d advise against it unless you can safely isolate the circuit and prove it dead with a proper tester. A socket that died from a loose connection often has heat-damaged cable behind it that needs assessing, not just a new faceplate screwed over the top.
Why is one socket dead when nothing has tripped?
Because the fault is at the socket itself, not on the circuit. A loose or burnt connection stops power at that point without drawing the kind of current that trips a breaker — the most common single-socket fault we find.
The socket works if I wiggle the plug. Is that OK to live with?
No. Wiggling means the contacts are worn and arcing every time they make and break. That arcing is heat, and heat is how socket fires start. It’s a quick, inexpensive replacement — get it done.
How quickly can you get to me?
Same-day across most of north and east London from our Tottenham N15 base, and faster for anything showing signs of overheating. See our London service areas for full coverage.
Socket still not working? Call F & A Electrical
Rated 9.69/10 from 237 Checkatrade reviews, we trace and repair socket faults across London every week. Call 07407 627542 or 07500 721453 — tell us what you’ve already checked and we’ll tell you honestly whether it needs someone today or can safely wait.
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