Quick answer
If you see sparks, smoke, or smell burning anywhere in your St. George home, call 911 first. For a dead circuit, a breaker that will not reset, or partial power loss, an emergency electrician visit in Washington County typically costs $250–$600 as of September 2026, and St. George Electric Pro can match you with an independent local electrician at no cost.
St. George Electric Pro · St. George, UT and Washington County
Is this actually an emergency?
Most “emergencies” are one of two things: a fire risk that needs 911 and the main breaker, or a dead circuit that is annoying but safe until morning. The difference matters because after-hours rates are real money. These are the situations where waiting is the wrong call.
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Burning smell, smoke, or scorch marks
Plastic or “fishy” smell near an outlet, switch, or the panel. Treat as a fire risk: 911 first, then the main breaker if you can reach it safely.
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Sparks or arcing
Sparks when you plug something in, or buzzing and crackling from a wall or the panel. Stop using the circuit and shut it off.
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A breaker that trips again immediately
A breaker that resets once is a nuisance. One that trips the moment you flip it, or feels hot, is telling you about a short or an overload.
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Half the house is out
Lights dead in some rooms, live in others, with nothing tripped. Often a failed breaker, a bad neutral, or a lost leg from the utility, and a lost leg can cook appliances.
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Water on or near electrical
A roof leak into a fixture, a flooded garage with the panel or outlets below the waterline, or a swamp cooler dripping onto wiring. Stay out of the water.
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A hot panel, outlet, or cord
Covers that are warm to the touch, discolored outlets, or a dimmer that is hot. Heat means resistance, and resistance means a connection is failing.
Not on that list: a single dead outlet with no smell or heat, a flickering bulb, a doorbell that quit, or a breaker that tripped once and reset cleanly. Those are same-week repair calls, not emergencies. See the electrical repair guide.
What to do in the next ten minutes
Run through this before you request a match. It rules out the two things an electrician cannot fix (a utility outage and a tripped GFCI you can reset yourself) and gives you the description that lets an electrician quote before they drive over.
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Look for danger signs first
Sparks, smoke, a burning smell, or a hot panel cover mean call 911 before anything else. Do not open the panel or touch anything that is wet.
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Check whether the neighbors have power
If the whole street is dark, it is the utility, not your house. Report it to your power provider (see the list below) and skip the electrician call.
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Check the main breaker and the tripped breaker
Open the panel door (not the cover). A tripped breaker usually sits between ON and OFF. Push it fully OFF, then ON, once. If it trips again, leave it off.
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Press RESET on GFCI outlets
A dead bathroom, kitchen, garage, or outdoor outlet is often a tripped GFCI somewhere on that circuit. Look for the outlet with the two buttons and press RESET.
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Unplug what was running when it failed
A space heater, a second fridge in the garage, or a window AC unit sharing a circuit with everything else is the usual summer culprit.
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Write down what you saw, then request a match
Which rooms are out, what tripped, any smell or sound. That description lets an electrician quote and triage before they drive over.
Whole street dark? That is a utility call, not an electrician
Washington County is unusual in having several electric providers, and the right outage number depends on where you live. St. George itself is split: most of the city is served by St. George Energy Services (the city-owned utility), while areas south of the Virgin River fall to Dixie Power, a member-owned cooperative. Washington City runs its own Washington City Power, Hurricane has Hurricane City Power with Rocky Mountain Power and Dixie Power serving pockets around Harrisburg and Sand Hollow, and Santa Clara runs a municipal power department. Ivins, La Verkin, and the unincorporated belt are mostly Dixie Power or Rocky Mountain Power territory.
The outage line for your provider is printed on your bill. Dixie Power publishes an outage map and staffs dispatch 24 hours a day; the Utah Office of Consumer Services keeps a list of which Utah communities run municipal utilities. An electrician cannot restore utility power, and reputable ones will tell you that on the phone rather than charge a trip fee to say it in your driveway.
Why St. George homes lose power in summer
The pattern local electricians see every July is not mysterious. St. George recorded its hottest July on record in 2024, with an average high of 107.9°F, and strung together 46 consecutive days at or above 100°F that summer, according to National Weather Service figures reported by KUER. Air conditioners in that heat run close to their full rated load for weeks at a time, and the compressor draws a surge every time it cycles on.
On a home built with a 100-amp panel, that surge lands on top of an electric dryer, an oven, a pool pump, and the second refrigerator in the garage. The main breaker does its job and trips. Nothing is broken, but nothing is adequate either. If your summer “emergency” is a main breaker that trips a few times a week, the real fix is not a service call; it is the panel upgrade guide.
The second summer pattern is heat itself. Attic temperatures well above 130°F age wire insulation, and connections that were merely loose in March become hot spots in August. A warm outlet cover or a dimmer that is hot to the touch in summer is worth a same-day look, not a same-month one.
What an emergency visit costs in Washington County
Every figure below is a typical range for a licensed electrician in the St. George area, blended from 2026 national cost surveys and local data points. It is not a quote; the electrician you are matched with sets the price. Full ranges, sources, and how they were built are on the electrician cost guide.
| Job | Typical range | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Typical emergency visit, all-in (diagnosis + a small repair) A dead circuit, a failed breaker, a burnt outlet. Bigger repairs are quoted separately. | $250–$600 | A dead circuit, a failed breaker, a burnt outlet. Bigger repairs are quoted separately. |
| After-hours / weekend / holiday add-on Added to the normal rate. Some electricians bill 1.5× to 2× their hourly rate instead of a flat add-on. | $100–$200 | Added to the normal rate. Some electricians bill 1.5× to 2× their hourly rate instead of a flat add-on. |
| Service call fee (usually covers the first hour) Some shops charge a separate trip fee instead of a service call. | $100–$200 | Some shops charge a separate trip fee instead of a service call. |
| Troubleshooting / diagnostic visit (business hours) Finding why a circuit is dead or a breaker trips. Often credited toward the repair. | $150–$350 | Finding why a circuit is dead or a breaker trips. Often credited toward the repair. |
| Licensed electrician, hourly rate Journeyman at the low end, master electrician at the high end. Many shops quote flat rates for common jobs instead. | $60–$110 per hour | Journeyman at the low end, master electrician at the high end. Many shops quote flat rates for common jobs instead. |
Two things move the number more than anything else. The first is timing: a call at 2 a.m. on a Sunday carries the after-hours add-on; the same problem at 8 a.m. Monday usually does not. If the house is safe (breakers off, nothing hot, nothing smelling), waiting until business hours is a legitimate way to save money, and a straight electrician will say so. The second is scope: the visit fee covers finding the problem and small fixes like a breaker, an outlet, or a burnt connection. A failed panel or a lost service leg becomes a quoted job.
Ask for the after-hours rate before the electrician leaves their shop. Reputable electricians in this market quote it up front.
How an emergency match works
St. George Electric Pro is a referral service, not an electrical contractor. When you request a match, your description and location go to an independent, licensed local electrician who takes emergency calls in your part of Washington County. They call you back, ask a couple of questions, quote their rate, and decide with you whether it is a tonight job or a tomorrow job. The electrician sets the price and does the work. Homeowners pay nothing to be matched.
We work with electricians who report holding a Utah electrical contractor license, but we do not verify every license ourselves. Ask for the license number when they call and check it on the state’s public lookup; the verify-a-licensed-electrician guide walks through it in about two minutes.
Questions to ask the electrician who calls you back
- “What is your after-hours rate and your trip fee?” Get both numbers before they leave.
- “What is your Utah contractor license number?” Then look it up while you wait.
- “Based on what I described, is this a tonight job?” A good electrician will tell you if it can safely wait.
- “Will you pull a permit if this turns into a panel or service repair?” Panel and service work normally needs a permit and an inspection; a quote that skips it is a red flag.
- “Is the diagnostic fee credited toward the repair?” Many shops do this; ask rather than assume.