Adding Power Points to an Older Perth Home. What to Know
If your home relies on a daisy chain of power boards and double adaptors, it is not designed for the way you live now. Older Perth homes were wired in an era with a fraction of today's appliances, and adding properly installed power points is one of the simplest, most affordable electrical upgrades you can make. Here is why older homes run short, where new points make the biggest difference, and why this is licensed work.
Why do older Perth homes run short of power points?
A home built in the 1970s or 1980s was wired for a television, a fridge, a kettle and not much else. Nobody planned for multiple TVs, computers, gaming consoles, phone chargers, air fryers, coffee machines and a home office. Suburbs with older housing stock, like Balcatta, Balga, Osborne Park, Innaloo and parts of Duncraig and Greenwood, are full of homes with one or two power points per room doing the work of six.
The result is visible in almost every older lounge room: power boards stacked into power boards, leads running behind furniture, and outlets doing far more than they were designed for.
Is it safe to rely on power boards and double adaptors?
Not as a permanent solution. A power board is fine for low-draw devices, but stacking boards or running high-draw appliances like heaters, dryers and kitchen appliances through them concentrates a lot of current through one wall outlet. That creates heat at the outlet and the connections behind it, and overloaded outlets are a genuine fire risk.
If an outlet or plug ever feels warm, or you hear buzzing or crackling, stop using it and get it checked. The long-term fix is not a bigger power board. It is more outlets, properly wired, spreading the load the way it should be.
Where do new power points make the biggest difference?
Think about where the extension leads currently live. The usual high-value spots are behind the TV unit, the home office, bedside positions in each bedroom, along kitchen benchtops, in the garage or workshop, and outdoors for tools, blowers and alfresco use. Double power points cost little more to install than singles, so it rarely makes sense to fit a single.
Modern options are worth considering while the electrician is there. Power points with built-in USB charging tidy up bedside and kitchen bench clutter, and weatherproof outdoor points are a big quality-of-life upgrade for Perth backyards and alfresco areas.
What is involved in adding a power point to a double brick home?
Most older Perth homes are double brick, which changes how the job is done. There is no hollow wall cavity to fish a cable through, so new cabling typically runs through the roof space and down the wall, sometimes chased into the brickwork or run in conduit. It is bread-and-butter work for a Perth electrician, but it is also exactly why the job takes real skill and the right tools rather than a quiet Sunday afternoon.
The electrician will also confirm the circuit can handle the additional outlet. In some older homes with limited circuits, adding several new points is the moment to look at the switchboard too, so the whole installation stays balanced and safe.
Do new power points need safety switch protection?
Yes. New power point circuits must be protected by a safety switch (RCD), which cuts the power in a fraction of a second if it detects a fault. If your older switchboard lacks proper RCD protection, your electrician will flag it, and bringing the board up to standard is worth doing at the same time. It also matters for compliance, since WA requires a minimum of two RCDs before a home can be sold or rented.
This is one of the hidden benefits of adding power points properly: the process often catches and fixes bigger safety gaps in older installations.
Can I install a power point myself?
No. In Western Australia, installing, relocating or replacing a power point is work on fixed wiring, and it must be carried out by a licensed electrician. DIY power point work is illegal, voids insurance, and gets people hurt. It is also a false economy, because a licensed installation is one of the more affordable electrical jobs there is.
Wiser Electrical Services is a licensed Perth electrical contractor (EC 16847) providing power point installation and power and lighting work across the Perth metro area, including Wanneroo, Joondalup, Stirling, Balcatta, Osborne Park and surrounds.
Get your home wired for how you actually live
More power points in the right places means no more extension leads, no more overloaded boards, and a safer home that simply works better day to day. It is a quick job for a licensed electrician and one you will notice every single day afterwards.
Request a call back or phone Wiser Electrical Services on 0422 766 960 to plan new power points anywhere in Perth.
Comments