What electrical work you can and can't do yourself in Victoria

Victoria's Electricity Safety Act 1998 defines electrical installation work as the installation, alteration, repair or maintenance of an electrical installation. Section 38 says nobody may carry out, or offer to carry out, a prescribed class of electrical work without the relevant licence. The regulations list work on installations operated at low voltage or above as one of those classes.

Energy Safe Victoria puts it plainly: it is illegal, and potentially fatal, for unlicensed and unqualified people to do any electrical or gasfitting work. Its Don't Do It Yourself campaign is just as clear about the small stuff: changing power points or light switches is not a DIY job.

The Act also covers offering to do the work, so an unlicensed handyman who offers to “just swap that over” is already on the wrong side of it. And in Victoria an electrician must work for a registered electrical contractor to do work for a customer, which matters when a licensed friend offers a weekend favour.

What a householder can do is use and check the installation, not change it. If the power goes off, Energy Safe Victoria says to check whether the safety switch has tripped and reset it, and to call a licensed electrician if it won't reset. Reset it once. If it drops out again straight away, leave it off: that's a fault to find, not a switch to keep flicking.

Energy Safe Victoria also asks householders to check safety switches every three months by pressing each test button, which should cut the power. If lights or appliances don't lose power, the switch may have failed and a licensed electrician should investigate.

Consumer Affairs Victoria says anyone can change a smoke alarm battery, but a hard-wired alarm must be installed by a qualified electrician. Fire Rescue Victoria says to test the batteries monthly by pressing and holding the test button until the alarm beeps three times.

Swapping a globe in a sound fitting is part of using the light. Switch it off, let the old globe cool and use the type the fitting takes. If the fitting is scorched or loose, or keeps blowing globes, leave it for an electrician.

The jobs that surprise people are the quick ones: swapping a cracked power point, fitting a dimmer, replacing an old batten holder with a pendant, turning a single point into a double or putting up a ceiling fan. In the newer estates around Point Cook, Tarneit and Truganina the usual ones are additions, like a point in the garage for a second fridge or lights over the alfresco. All of them install, alter or repair fixed wiring, so they sit inside the Act's definition.

For a loose, cracked or broken power point, Energy Safe Victoria says not to touch or try to repair it, but to cover it straight away and have a licensed electrician replace it. Stop using it and tell the household why.

Air conditioning is on Energy Safe Victoria's list of electrical work that gets a Certificate of Electrical Safety, and the Australian Refrigeration Council says installing a split system needs a refrigerant handling licence. The kit you can buy online still needs licensed hands. Gasfitting by unlicensed people is illegal as well.

Some wiring can't be made dead from inside the house. Energy Safe Victoria describes prescribed work in a home as work on wiring and equipment that can't be switched off, generally the wires up to the switchboard, and possibly the street connection and the meter. Work on the consumer mains, main switchboard, meter box, main earthing, solar or a home battery also has to be inspected by a Licensed Electrical Inspector.

Older boards add another hazard. Altona and Laverton have plenty of post-war weatherboards and brick veneers, and WorkSafe Victoria lists switchboards and their backing boards as a typical place for asbestos-containing materials, particularly in buildings built or renovated before the late 1980s. Its examples include ceramic fuses and pitch-based boards, so don't unscrew or drill a panel to have a look.

If lights go dull or flicker, or only part of the house has power, leave the switchboard and anything metal alone, turn off and unplug what you easily can, and contact your electricity distributor.

A power point looks like two screws and a faceplate. The risk is behind it: which circuit it's on, what else it feeds, whether the cable has gone brittle and whether the earth is sound. A wrong connection can sit quietly until an appliance develops a fault. Energy Safe Victoria says the wiring should be checked if a house was built more than 30 years ago.

An electrician tests the work before it goes back on, then must provide a Certificate of Electrical Safety, a legal document recording what was done. For non-prescribed work they must give you a copy within 30 days. A DIY job leaves no test results and no record for the next electrician or owner.

Registered electrical contractors must also hold current public liability insurance against injury and property damage connected with their work. Nothing like that sits behind a weekend DIY job. How your own home policy treats unlicensed work is a question for your insurer.

Note what happened, when, and which rooms and appliances are affected. Photograph the board and its labels without removing any covers.

Clear a path to the switchboard and the manhole, and mark where new points or lights should go with painter's tape. If you've found a previous owner's handiwork, like loose cable in the roof, point it out rather than tidying it away.

Energy Safe Victoria says anyone planning electrical installation work must engage a registered electrical contractor, and suggests asking to see the tradesperson's licence, since it gives you avenues for recourse if something goes wrong. Contractors must show their REC number on advertising. Total Comfort is a licensed electrical contractor, REC 38187.

Get us in when a job goes past the short list: a safety switch that won't reset or keeps tripping, a test button that doesn't cut the power, a damaged power point, hard-wired smoke alarms, a split system to install, or work you suspect wasn't done by a licensed electrician. Tingles from a tap or appliance need checking too: stop using it and have a licensed electrician check the wiring. If there's smoke or fire, get everyone out.

Not sure which side of the line a job sits? Describe it to us. You'll get honest advice and, if the work is needed, a free, no-obligation quote with the price before we start. Total Comfort is family-run, based in Altona Meadows, and one local team for electrical, heating and cooling.