Several Sockets Not Working? One Visit Traces the Fault to Its Source
An electrician who works out why a group of sockets has dropped off together — one circuit, one cause — and restores the whole lot safely.
Booking fee plus hourly labour — the price is confirmed before any work starts.
What this costs
| Booked 14+ days ahead | £25 booking fee £85 per hour |
|---|---|
| Booked within 48 hours | £100 booking fee £65 per hour |
| Same-day call-out | £220 booking fee £45 per hour |
The booking fee secures the visit. Labour is then charged by the hour, so you only pay for the time the job actually takes.
Booking fee £25–£220
£25 + £85/hr booked 14+ days ahead, £100 + £65/hr inside 48 hours, £220 + £45/hr same day. Agreed before we arrive.
Covered under Sockets & Outlets
Electrical › Sockets & Outlets — one of 19 documented jobs in this section.
Same-day multiple sockets not working
Urgent jobs can often be booked for today. Ask when you book and we will confirm the slot before you pay anything.
15 service areas
Birmingham, Coventry, Dorridge and 12 more across the West Midlands.
When Sockets Go Out in Groups
Sockets in a British home are not wired one by one from the consumer unit. They are linked together in rings or radials, several rooms sharing a single circuit, and groups of them are also protected together by an RCD. That is why electrical faults in a house tend to be all-or-nothing in patches: one wall of the kitchen dies while the other side keeps working, or every socket downstairs goes off while upstairs is fine. When several sockets fail at once, the answer is nearly always one fault on a shared circuit — and finding it is a matter of methodical testing, not swapping sockets at random.
Why Several Sockets Fail Together
The most frequent cause is a protective device that has tripped, and it tripped for a reason. An RCD that has tripped will take out every socket on its side of the board, and it usually trips because something on that circuit is leaking current to earth — a damaged appliance, water in an outdoor socket, or a nail through a cable. Less dramatically, a break in the ring itself will kill every socket beyond the break while leaving earlier ones alive, which is why the failure sometimes has a clear edge, such as one half of a room. Failed joints in junction boxes, overheated connections at a heavily loaded socket, and cables crushed by new flooring or furniture all produce the same picture.
What Happens If You Leave It
The obvious risk with a tripped device is that it will not reset, and repeatedly trying to reset it without finding the cause is a mistake — the device is telling you something is wrong, and it will keep protecting you until the fault is found. The subtler problem is the workarounds. When a group of sockets dies, households drift into long extension leads snaking between rooms, adaptors stacked on adaptors, and high-draw appliances like kettles and heaters plugged into circuits never intended for them. Meanwhile the underlying fault — a failing joint or a damaged cable — is deteriorating out of sight.
How We Find the Common Cause
We start at the consumer unit, because the pattern of what is on and what is off narrows the search immediately. If a device has tripped, we test whether it will hold once the circuit is isolated, then use insulation and continuity testing to find what is leaking or broken. If the sockets are simply dead without a trip, we test the circuit from its supply end outwards, checking continuity around the ring and testing at accessible points until the break or failed joint is located. Proper fault-finding instruments mean we pinpoint the problem rather than opening every socket on the circuit hoping to spot it.
How We Put It Right
The repair matches the cause. A leaking appliance is identified and taken out of service so the circuit can be restored safely. A damaged cable section is re-run or properly jointed. An overheated or corroded connection is cut back and remade. If the fault sits at the consumer unit itself — a faulty device or a circuit that has been overloaded — we will explain what we have found and what the options are. Once the repair is made we re-energise the circuit, test the sockets that were affected, and confirm everything holds under load.
Keeping It Working
After a group fault, a little vigilance goes a long way. Note which appliances were in use when the sockets died, because the culprit is often something recently plugged in. Spread high-draw appliances around the house rather than stacking them on one wall of sockets. And if the same circuit trips more than once, book a proper investigation — a recurring trip is a message, not an annoyance.
When to Call Us
Call us when more than one socket is out, when a reset at the consumer unit will not hold, or when you cannot tell which device to reset and do not want to guess. These are jobs where the right test equipment saves hours, and where an untrained reset attempt can put you back where you started.
Book Your Socket Circuit Repair Today
Several dead sockets mean one findable fault, and we have the tools and the method to find it. Use the booking form or give us a ring, and we will get an electrician out quickly — same-day slots are usually available. The full cost is agreed with you before any work begins.
How the price works
We charge a booking fee to hold your slot, then an hourly rate for the work itself. The fee changes with how soon you need us; the hourly rate changes with the slot you choose. You approve the price before we start, so there is no surprise on the invoice.
Booked 14+ days ahead
£25 booking fee
then £85 per hour of labour
Best value. Book the slot now, pay the smallest booking fee.
Booked within 48 hours
£100 booking fee
then £65 per hour of labour
For jobs that can wait a day or two but not a fortnight.
Same-day call-out
£220 booking fee
then £45 per hour of labour
Urgent problems: standing water, no heat, no power, leaks.
Book the slot
Choose the window that suits you and pay the booking fee. That holds your place in the diary.
We diagnose on site
The engineer confirms the cause and tells you what the job involves and how long it should take.
You approve, we work
Nothing goes ahead until you agree the price. Labour is then charged per hour at your slot rate.
When half the kitchen goes dead at once, or the sockets along one wall all stop together, the fault is almost never in the sockets themselves. Sockets are wired in groups on shared circuits, so when several fail together the cause sits further back — a tripped protective device, a joint that has failed, or a cable that has been damaged. We find the common point, fix it once, and all the sockets come back with it.
What our customers say about our electrical service
4.6 out of 5 from 11 reviews
Does what it says on the tin
No complaints about the work itself — clear explanation, sensible advice, fair price. Booking online was easy enough once I found the right job page.
Job: Smoke Alarm Replacement
Fixed it, but took longer than expected
Work itself was fine and tidy. Communication beforehand was patchy — I did not get the confirmation message and had to ring to check the slot. Would still use again.
Job: Flickering Outdoor Lights
Turned up when they said
Third time we have used Maintenance Men, and the same experience each time: agreed price, proper explanation, job done in one visit. The hourly rate is fair for the standard of work.
Job: Appliance Causing Power Trip
Book Multiple Sockets Not Working
Tell us what is happening and choose a slot. If you are not sure this is the right job, use the diagnosis panel — it narrows the problem down before you book.
- Booking fee confirmed up front
- Hourly labour, agreed before work starts
- Same-day slots for urgent problems
Questions people ask about multiple sockets not working
Straight answers to the things customers ask most often before booking.
What will this cost to put right?
There is a booking fee payable when you book, and the labour is charged by the hour, with the rate depending on how soon you need us out. Before we begin any repair we will set out the full cost of the work, so you know exactly what you are approving before it starts.
Should I try flipping all the switches in the consumer unit myself?
If a switch has clearly tripped, you can try resetting it once — that much is reasonable. What we would not recommend is repeatedly resetting a device that will not hold, or switching everything off and on hoping something works. If the trip will not reset, something on the circuit needs finding, and that needs test instruments.
How do you work out which fault has killed all these sockets?
We start at the consumer unit to see which circuits and devices are affected, then test the wiring itself with insulation and continuity instruments. That lets us narrow down a whole circuit to a single joint, socket or cable section without opening every accessory in the house, and we explain what we have found before repairing it.
Is it dangerous to keep using the sockets that still work?
The working sockets themselves are generally fine to use, but be careful how you cover the gap. Long runs of extension leads, daisy-chained adaptors and high-draw appliances like heaters on the wrong circuit are a real fire risk. Keep the workarounds modest and get the fault seen to quickly.
Could one of my appliances be the cause?
Quite possibly, and it is one of the first things we check. A faulty appliance with an earth leakage fault will trip an RCD and take every socket on that circuit with it. We can test whether the circuit holds with appliances disconnected, which usually identifies the culprit within minutes.
Need multiple sockets not working sorted?
Book a slot in the diary and pay only the booking fee up front. We confirm the rest before we start.