Emergency and After Hours
Emergency electrician in Gillette, WY
My phone stays on. If your power is out, something is burning or sparking, or you have water getting into electrical equipment, call me. I will tell you on that call whether I can come, and what it costs, before I go anywhere.
Call first. No app, no dispatcher, no ticket.
Call 307-399-9317 and you get me. Not an answering service, not a call center in another state. Tell me what is happening and what you are seeing, and I will tell you straight away whether I can get to you tonight.
If I cannot take it, I will say so on that first call instead of stringing you along. You are dealing with an electrical problem at a bad hour and the worst thing I could do is waste an hour of your time before telling you to call someone else.
What I treat as an emergency
Call any hour for these. Do not wait until morning.
- Burning smell, smoke, scorch marks or a hot panel. This is the one that turns into a house fire.
- Sparking, arcing or buzzing from a panel, outlet, switch or meter base.
- Water reaching electrical equipment. Burst pipe, flooded basement, roof leak running into a panel or fixture.
- Storm or vehicle damage to your mast, meter base or service entrance.
- A breaker that will not stay set, or one that trips the moment you reset it.
- Total loss of power to the house when the neighbors still have theirs, or half the house dead with the other half still on.
- No heat in winter because of an electrical fault. In a Wyoming January that is not a next-day problem.
- Anyone got a shock from an appliance, a fixture, a faucet or siding.
What can usually wait for regular hours
A single dead outlet, a light fixture you want swapped, a bid on a panel upgrade, a hot tub or EV charger install, a flickering bulb. Call during the day for these and you pay the standard rate instead. If you are not sure which side of the line you are on, call and ask. I would rather talk you through it for free than have you sit on something dangerous.
Before I Arrive
Do this while you wait
If you can do it safely, these help. If any of it means touching something that is smoking, sparking or wet, leave it alone and wait for me.
- Smoke or fire, call 911 first. Then call me. I am an electrician, not the fire department.
- Kill the affected circuit at the breaker if you can reach the panel safely and it is dry.
- Never stand in water to reach a panel, and do not touch a panel that is wet or hot.
- Stop resetting a breaker that keeps tripping. It is doing its job. Something behind it is wrong.
- Unplug what you can on the dead circuit so it does not all come back on at once.
- Check whether the neighbors have power. If the whole street is dark it is the utility, and that call goes to them, not me.
- Clear me a path to the panel and turn on a light out front if it is dark.
What it costs
Emergency and after-hours work is $150 an hour with a one hour minimum. That is one and a half times my standard $100 service rate. It covers nights, weekends, holidays and same-day calls outside Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm.
You will hear that number from me on the phone, before I head your way. I say the words "this is the emergency rate" out loud and you tell me to come or not. Nobody finds it for the first time on an invoice. If you would rather wait until morning and pay the standard rate, say so and I will book you in.
Parts and materials are billed the same way they always are, and the full terms including travel charges are in the Customer Service Agreement.
How the call goes
- You call 307-399-9317. Any hour. Describe what is happening and what you are seeing, hearing or smelling.
- I tell you if I can come. Straight answer on that call. If I am already on a job, too far out, or not fit to drive, I will tell you right then so you can call somebody else.
- I tell you the rate. $150 an hour, one hour minimum, before I leave. You decide.
- I make it safe first. The immediate hazard gets dealt with before anything else, even if the full repair has to wait for parts or daylight.
- You get it in writing. What I found, what I did and what still needs doing, plus a written quote for anything left over.
A straight word on availability
I am one electrician, not a rotating crew. I am on call, but I am not promising I will always be able to come. If I am already under somebody else's house, three counties out, or it is not safe for me to be driving, I will turn the call down. I would rather tell you no in thirty seconds than leave you waiting on a truck that is not coming.
Emergency work is offered at my discretion and availability is not guaranteed. If your situation cannot wait and I cannot get there, call 911 or your utility.