Commercial electrical emergencies aren't usually about life safety; they're about trading-hour risk, stock loss and contract-grade compliance. A burnt main switch on Friday evening becomes lost weekend trading. A failed three-phase sub-main becomes a freezer of perished stock. A board fault during a shift becomes evacuated staff and a non-trivial insurance claim. Millar Electrics responds to commercial electrical faults across Melbourne, fastest through the eastern suburbs where we're based, with a licensed electrician on-site typically within 1 to 2 hours, fault diagnosis and make-safe before the next business day, and written documentation suitable for insurers and building managers.
What we handle on first response
Sub-main and main-switch faults, switchboard burning smells, three-phase loss, RCD trips on refrigeration or comms cabinets, water ingress into electrical equipment, and anything sparking or arcing. We isolate the fault, make-safe the affected section, and where possible restore supply that night. Where the fault needs specialty parts or a planned outage to fully rectify, we leave the site safe and operational on a temporary configuration and quote the remediation for daytime work.
Response, rates and authorisation
Out-of-hours rates apply to weekend and after-5pm callouts and are confirmed over the phone before dispatch. For property managers and strata, we can hold a pre-authorisation limit on file so the on-call manager can dispatch us without chasing sign-off mid-emergency. Every call-out generates a written incident note with time on site, work performed and any follow-up scope, suitable for insurer claims and owners corporation records.
When supply can't be restored before trading
For loss-of-supply faults that exceed the after-hours window, we coordinate temporary generator hire (typically 20 to 100 kVA units) and connect through a temporary changeover, restoring critical loads such as refrigeration, comms and security until the permanent rectification is in place. Reinstatement is scheduled into a planned outage window once the fault is fully resolved.
Standards the work meets
Safe-work procedures on an energised commercial installation follow AS/NZS 4836 (safe working on or near low-voltage electrical installations): isolation, proving dead, lock-out and any live-work permit decisions. Any new or replaced wiring is installed to AS/NZS 3000 (the Wiring Rules). Temporary generator connection follows AS/NZS 3010 (generating sets), with the changeover arrangement preventing back-feed onto the distributor's network. Where the fault is in the assembly itself, the rectified switchboard meets AS/NZS 61439. The written incident note cross-references the relevant clauses so the insurer's electrical assessor and the building manager have a defensible record.