Lars S.
“Quick work locating my issue. Branden took the time to explain the best way to go about updating things as well. Great guy. Definitely going to be going back to them.”
Lars S.
Troubleshooting
Emergency electrical service in Santa Cruz County
Burning smells, sparking, no power — a person answers around the clock and reaches the on-call electrician.
4.9 stars, 161 reviews on Google — See the reviews behind this rating (opens in a new tab)BBB Accredited · A+ (opens in a new tab)CSLB #C10-1097237 — C-10 Electrical20-year workmanship guaranteeA person answers, then reaches the on-call electricianPermit and inspection handled on the repair
What this is
An electrical emergency is anything where waiting makes it more dangerous: a burning or hot-plastic smell you cannot locate, visible sparking or arcing, smoke, a scorched outlet or switch, a panel that is hot or buzzing, water sitting in the service equipment, or a service conductor down in the yard. If that is what you have, call. A person answers, takes the address and the symptom, and reaches the on-call electrician.
Keep yourself clear of the hazard. If you see smoke or flame, hear active arcing, or suspect a fire, leave the area and call 911 first. Stay away from downed wires and anything touching them; call 911, then PG&E. Do not approach or operate electrical equipment that is wet, hot, sparking, or visibly damaged. Only switch off an affected circuit if the panel and the route to it are safe and dry. If you are unsure, stay away and call for help. Do not keep resetting a breaker that trips.
An after-hours visit is a fault-location and make-safe visit. We start at the panel, work out to the circuit and the device, and the goal is a located fault and a house that is safe to sleep in — damaged conductors dead-ended, a failed device or breaker replaced, and anything still unsafe de-energized, capped, and labeled so nobody flips it back on in the morning. Some repairs genuinely finish that night. A burned main panel or a failed service entrance does not, because that work needs a permit, an inspection, and PG&E on the utility side, and none of that happens in the middle of the night. When that is the situation, you get the make-safe work now and a written scope for the rebuild.
One boundary worth knowing before you call: PG&E owns the service drop and the service conductors up to the service point. The house side is ours. A conductor down in the street, a damaged meter, or an outage that has taken your neighbors out too is PG&E's call and you should stay well clear of it — we will tell you that on the phone rather than dispatch a truck you do not need. Sunrise holds a CSLB C-10 (Electrical) licence, #C10-1097237, and the reason we take these calls at all is that we are built for the county's older housing stock: houses where the wiring has been added to several times by several different people, and where the fault is almost never where the symptom is.
When you need this
- A burning or hot-plastic smell you cannot trace to an appliance, in any room
- Sparking, arcing, or an audible pop from an outlet, a switch, or the panel
- A panel or subpanel that is warm to the touch, buzzing, or humming
- Water in the panel or running down the service entrance after a winter storm on the coast or in the valley
- Scorch marks or brown discoloration around an outlet, a switch, or a breaker
- The whole house is dark while the neighbors still have power, and something at the meter or panel looks or smells wrong
04What's included
Exactly what we handle — and the two things you handle.
Sunrise provides
- A live phone triage — address, symptom, and whether anyone is in immediate danger — and then the on-call electrician is reached
- Guidance on the next safe step, including when to stay clear and call emergency services instead of approaching electrical equipment
- On-site fault isolation across the panel, the branch circuits, and the service entrance, so the cause is located rather than guessed at
- Make-safe work so the house can be occupied overnight: damaged conductors dead-ended, failed devices or breakers replaced, anything still unsafe de-energized and clearly labeled
- Replacement breakers and devices matched to the panel brand already on the house, because that is what the UL listing requires
- A written record of what we found, what we did that visit, and what is still outstanding
- Permit pulled and inspection coordinated on any follow-on repair that needs one, built into that quote rather than added later
Warranty: 20-year workmanship warranty on repair work we install, transferable — see warranty terms · Permits: pulled + inspection coordinated by us, built into the quote · Cleanup: Drop cloths down whatever the hour, damaged materials bagged and hauled out, and anything left de-energized taped and labeled so it does not get switched back on by mistake. Drywall and paint repair where we had to open a wall is out of scope, and we tell you that before we open it rather than after.
You provide
- Someone at the property who can let us in and point at what happened
- Clear access to the panel and to the affected area
- If you already shut something off, which breaker it was and roughly when
05How it works
Start to finish, with real times.
1One phone call
Call, and a person picks up
You describe what is happening — the smell, the sparking, the outage — and give us the address. The person on the phone gets enough detail to know what kind of visit this is, then reaches the on-call electrician.
2On that same call, before anyone travels
Make it safe while you are still on the line
If there is smoke, flame, or active arcing, get clear and call 911 first. Stay away from downed wires and call 911, then PG&E. We ask what you are seeing and help you decide the next step. We do not ask you to approach wet, hot, sparking, or damaged equipment. Switching off a circuit is only an option when the panel and the route to it are safe and dry.
3As long as the fault takes to find — you hear the running commentary
Find the fault, then isolate it
On site we start at the panel and work outward to the circuit and the device rather than replacing parts in hope. We narrate what we are seeing as we go. The bar for the visit is a located fault and a house that is safe to sleep in.
4Written up before we leave
Repair now, or a written scope for the rebuild
A device, splice, termination, or breaker is repaired on the visit when the part is on the truck. A burned main panel or service entrance needs a permit, an inspection, and PG&E coordination, so we make it safe now and write up the real repair as its own scheduled job.
06Pricing transparency
Every quote is free. The range depends too much on your home to fake it.
There is no honest flat number for an emergency call, because the word covers everything from a failed breaker to a service entrance that has been arcing in the rain since Tuesday. What we can do is give you the number before work starts rather than after. On the phone we get enough detail to say what kind of visit this is likely to be. On site, once the fault is located, you get a price for the make-safe work and a separate written scope for anything that needs a permit, an inspection, or PG&E — nothing proceeds on the assumption you will agree to it later. And if what you actually have can safely wait until morning, we will say so, because a scheduled visit is the cheaper visit for you.
What it costs
Quotes are free. The variance on this work is too wide for an honest range — book a free inspection and we’ll give you a real number for your specific home, in writing.
What moves the number
Where the fault turns out to be — a branch circuit, the panel, or the service entrance are three different sizes of job · Whether PG&E has to be involved at all (anything at the meter, the mast, or the service conductors) and how their scheduling lands · When the call comes in — an overnight, weekend, or holiday visit is a different scheduling situation than a weekday one · How much of the house is affected: one dead outlet versus a whole leg of the service · Whether the permanent repair needs a permit and inspection, which makes it a scheduled return rather than a same-night fix · Access — hillside lots, crawlspaces, and the tight side yards common in older Santa Cruz and Aptos neighborhoods add real time · What is behind the wall once we open it: knob and tube, cloth Romex, or aluminum branch wiring all change the repair · Whether the breaker or device we need is stocked, or has to be matched to an obsolete panel brand and orderedNo hidden fees. Every quote is free and detailed.
What customers say · diagnostics
161 reviews on Google
Read all reviews Annette
“Ian and his team did a fantastic job at our house which had a lot of old wiring and required patience and a lot of investigation. Super friendly and efficient!”
Annette
Old wiring troubleshooting
Joe S.
“Sunrise electrical is fantastic! They fixed all of the electrical issues in my house competently and quickly. They were polite and willing to answer any questions clearly. I've lived in Santa Cruz for 50 years and they are now I go to people for any electrical issues.”
Joe S.
09Frequently asked questions
7 questions. Real answers.
Pulled from what we actually hear on quotes and on-site. If yours isn't here, ask us — we'll answer in plain English.
What actually counts as an electrical emergency?
A burning or hot-plastic smell, visible sparking or arcing, smoke, a scorched or discolored outlet or switch, a panel that is hot or buzzing, water in the service equipment, or a downed service conductor. Those do not wait. A single dead outlet, a breaker that has tripped once, or a light that flickers occasionally are real problems but they are morning problems. Our burning smell guide walks through the distinction in more detail.
What should I do before you arrive?
If you see smoke or flame, hear active arcing, or suspect a fire, leave the area and call 911 first. Stay away from downed wires and anything touching them; call 911, then PG&E. Do not approach or operate electrical equipment that is wet, hot, sparking, or visibly damaged. Only switch off an affected circuit if the panel and the route to it are safe and dry. If you are unsure, stay away and call for help. Do not keep resetting a breaker that trips.
Do I call you or PG&E?
PG&E owns the service drop and the service conductors up to the service point; everything from there into the house is ours. A conductor down in the street, a damaged meter, or an outage that has taken the whole block out is PG&E — stay well away from it and call them. If you are not sure which side of that line your problem is on, call us and describe it; we will tell you, and we would rather send you to PG&E than dispatch a truck you do not need.
Can you actually fix it that night?
It depends on the fault. A failed breaker, a burned receptacle, a bad splice, or a damaged section of a branch circuit can be repaired on the visit when the part is on the truck. What cannot happen overnight is a main panel replacement or a service entrance rebuild, because those need a building permit, an inspection, and PG&E to disconnect and reconnect. In that case the visit makes the house safe and you get a written scope for the scheduled work.
My whole house is dark but my neighbors have power. Is that an emergency?
It can be. If the outage is quiet and nothing is hot or smells wrong, it is often a tripped main or a utility-side issue and it can usually wait for a scheduled visit. If the panel or the meter is warm, buzzing, smells like burning plastic, or you can see scorching, treat it as an emergency and call — a failing service connection is one of the faults that gets worse quickly.
Is the permit handled on the repair?
Yes. When the repair we recommend needs a permit, Sunrise pulls it and coordinates the inspection, and the cost sits inside that quote rather than arriving as a surprise afterwards. In the four incorporated cities — Santa Cruz, Capitola, Scotts Valley, and Watsonville — that is the city building department. Everywhere else in the county it is the County, which catches a lot of people out in Aptos, Soquel, Live Oak, and the San Lorenzo Valley.
How long is the warranty on emergency work?
Twenty-year workmanship warranty on the repair work we install, transferable to the next owner. See warranty terms for the full coverage details. Temporary make-safe measures — a circuit deliberately left de-energized and labeled pending a scheduled repair — are documented as temporary in the write-up so there is no ambiguity about what is finished and what is not.
10Even if Sunrise isn't the answer
Here’s the honest path — wherever it leads.
We'd rather you get the right outcome than the Sunrise outcome. Some of this points away from us on purpose.
Outside Santa Cruz County?
Call a licensed C-10 electrical contractor near you and verify the licence at cslb.ca.gov before anyone opens a panel. If you smell burning or see smoke, the fire department comes first — no electrician is worth waiting for in that situation. When you call around, ask whether the shop takes after-hours work itself or hands it off, because that answer decides who actually turns up at your panel.
Browse our field guidesNot sure it is an emergency?
A burning smell is the one people talk themselves out of. The guide covers what to shut off, what to look for, and how to tell the difference between a smell that fades and one that means something is heating up right now.
Read what to do firstIt can wait until morning?
Then book it for regular business hours. Anything that can safely wait is booked then, at our regular rates, and it buys an unhurried look at the circuit. Leave the affected breaker switched off until someone has been out, and write down what you saw and when it happened.
Book a daytime visit12Service areas
We do this work everywhere in Santa Cruz County.
From Davenport to Pajaro Dunes, San Lorenzo Valley to Pleasure Point. Same crew, same warranty, same pricing.
13One more thing
Something is wrong right now?
Call and a person answers, then reaches the on-call electrician. If you see smoke or flame, leave the house and call 911 first — then call us.