Your home's electrical system is probably more complex than you realized. It isn't as simple as having the power line come into your house and powering everything up. Your house's electrics are made up of circuits upon circuits upon circuits.
Electrical Circuits
In it's most basic form, an electrical circuit is a circle. When the circle is unbroken, then power can flow through it. When the circle is broken, then there is no power. An easy to see example of this would be a lightbulb filament. When the light bulb is in the socket and the filament is all in one piece, then the circle is unbroken and the light bulb lights up. However, once the filament breaks, the circuit no longer works. Your house's electrics are made up of one main circuit which runs through your meter. If the meter is turned off or removed, then no power gets through. Inside that main circuit are smaller circuits. They would be like smaller circles drawn inside a larger circle and connected at one point. Those circuits could encompass a room or rooms in your home or could be for just one thing, like an air conditioner. Inside those medium sized circuits are smaller circuits. Those circuits are things like light fixtures or plugs. Some plugs, like GFCI outlets, are even smaller circuits inside those circuits.
Circuit Breakers/Fuse Boxes
An integral part of your house's electrics is the circuit breaker or fuse box. Each circuit runs through a circuit breaker or fuse. If there is an overload through the circuit, then the breaker turns it off or the fuse blows. That breaks the circle of the circuit and keeps it from causing cascading overloads which could blow the electrical system for your house or cause a fire. If the circuit breaker does trip, then all you need to do is reset it and it should work again. However, if it trips again immediately, then you should leave it off until you can get a professional in to figure out the issue. If you have a fuse box, which is common in older houses, to get the circuit working again, you have to physically change the fuse. When you change a fuse, you need to make sure that you use the same voltage of fuse. That's because that's what the circuit is rated for. Too low, and your fuse will burn out all the time. Too high and the fuse won't burn out when it should and your circuit will overload.
Having an electrical system means you can light your house and your refrigerator works. However, it's a more complex system than most people think.
For more information on choosing an electric company in your area, check out companies like Enercon Engineering Inc.
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