Why Am I Slowly Losing Electricity in My House?

Overloaded Electrical Outlets

• Each outlet in your home can handle only a certain amount of power running through it to operate appliances and other electronic devices. Overloading your wall outlets with splitters and excess power strips can cause shorts in wiring, which can inhibit electricity running through your home. Lights may dim and appliances may run slowly as a result of draining power. Overloaded wall outlets also present a significant fire hazard. According to Southern Illinois University's website, melted wiring from excessive power can start fires inside the walls of your home.

Faulty Circuit Breaker

• Faulty wiring in one of your home's circuit breakers can cause electrical problems in rooms controlled by the defective device. According to the Relectric Supply Company, a faulty circuit breaker may trip at the wrong time or remain in the "on" position even though no power problem exists. This can result in a slow power drain in a given room or outright power failure depending on the severity of the breaker problem. Additionally, faulty wiring may cause a breaker to keep power running to outlets that you manually turn off. This keeps appliances connected to these outlets effectively turned on and drawing power.

Too Many Gadgets

• Plugging in too many gadgets, including entertainment systems, computers and stereo equipment, into any one room of your home can cause a power drain. According to Outside the Beltway, a news website, your digital video recorder (DVR) and cable TV box may be the main causes of power drain in a given room of your home. These devices can use up to 446 kilowatts per year. The reason your DVR and cable box consume so much power is because they never turn off. Plugging in a large number of electronic devices into a room with this equipment already running can tax your power grid and lead to supply problems.

Old Home Wiring

• If you live in an old home, the property's wiring may be insufficient to handle new electronic devices and modern power demands. As a result, your home's power grid could struggle to provide sufficient wattage to keep power running to all your appliances and light fixtures. Inspection of your home wiring by a certified electrical inspector is necessary to determine whether the wiring is safe and what steps you need to take to upgrade its capabilities. Continuing to rely on old wiring presents a risk of fire from overloaded circuits.