I felt a tingle from a tap or appliance. What should I do?

Electricity should stay inside insulated wiring. A tingle means some of it is finding a path to a surface you can touch, and through you to earth. How much flows depends on wet hands, bare feet and how bad the fault is, so a mild tingle today says nothing about tomorrow.

An appliance with damaged insulation or an internal fault, often a washing machine, kettle or older power tool. A wiring fault, where a live conductor is touching a metal box, fitting or pipe. An earthing problem, such as a corroded or disconnected earth connection, so a fault isn't cleared the way it should be.

Or a fault on the supply, such as a damaged neutral in the line to the house, which can show up as tingles from taps along with dim or flickering lights. That's why Energy Safe Victoria says to call your electricity company straight away if you get tingles or shocks from an appliance or water taps.

A safety switch cuts the power within 0.03 of a second when it detects electricity leaking from a circuit, but Energy Safe Victoria notes it won't prevent every shock and may not protect all wiring and appliances. Some older circuits have no safety switch at all, and a fault on the supply side of your main switch is outside what a household safety switch is designed to catch.

We test the earthing system and its connection, the circuit involved and the appliance, and look for voltage where there shouldn't be any. Homes where old metal water pipes have been partly replaced with plastic are worth a close look, because the change can affect the earth connection. If the distributor finds a fault on their side, they fix it. Anything from the point of supply into the house needs a licensed electrician.