Electrical Checks to Do on Day One in a New Flat

1. Stand in front of the distribution board and read it

Look, do not open. Five minutes here tells you most of what you need to know about the flat.

• Is there an RCCB? Look for a wider device with a TEST button, separate from the row of ordinary breakers. That is the device that protects a person from a shock, and plenty of older Delhi flats do not have one. If there is none, put it at the top of your list — see what a distribution board upgrade involves.
• Press the TEST button on the RCCB if there is one. It should trip immediately and cut the power. If it does not trip, it is not protecting anybody and needs a professional. Reset it afterwards.
• Count the circuits. A whole flat on two or three breakers means every fault takes out half the house, and heavy appliances are sharing lines with lights.
• Are the circuits labelled? If not, work out which breaker kills which room by switching them off one at a time, and write it down or stick a label on. You will want this at midnight one day.
• Look for the obvious wrong things: scorch marks, a burnt smell, a fuse wire in place of a breaker, or breakers that look newer than the board because they have been replaced repeatedly. Report anything you find rather than investigating it.

2. Walk every room and count the sockets

Take a phone charger and a small lamp with you. This is the tedious part and it is the part that pays.

• Test every socket with the charger or lamp. Note the dead ones. A dead point is a small job now and an annoyance forever if you forget about it.
• Count the two-pin sockets. Two-pin means no earth, so nothing with a metal body should ever run from one. If the kitchen and bathroom areas are two-pin, that matters more than the bedrooms.
• Check where the sockets actually are against where your furniture will go. Discovering that the only socket in the bedroom is behind the wardrobe position is much cheaper to fix before you move in.
• Look for dedicated points for the AC, geyser, washing machine and fridge. Heavy appliances sharing an ordinary lighting circuit is the classic Delhi flat problem, and it is why breakers trip in May.
• Check switchplates and sockets for cracks, looseness, burn marks or a hot-plastic smell. A socket that is loose in the wall or discoloured needs replacing, not using. See socket and switchboard replacement.
• Look at balcony and outdoor points. Are they sheltered? Delhi monsoon rain into an unprotected balcony socket is one of the most common causes of trips and shocks.

3. Fixed appliances, the meter and the paperwork

The things that are handed over with the flat, and the things that will appear on your first bill.

• Photograph the meter reading on the day you take possession, with the date. This settles any argument about the previous occupant’s consumption before it starts.
• Ask for the last two electricity bills. They tell you the sanctioned load, whether there are arrears, and roughly what the flat costs to run. If the bill later jumps, our guide on why a bill suddenly rises covers the diagnosis.
• Check the sanctioned load against your plans. If you intend to add an AC or two to a connection sanctioned decades ago, the load may need enhancing, which is a discom process and worth starting early.
• Run the geyser and check for a tingle from the tap or the body afterwards. If there is any, switch it off at the board and read what a shock from a tap means. Treat it as urgent.
• Switch on every fan and light. Note wobble, hum, slow speed and dead regulators. A slow fan is often a small fix — see why a ceiling fan runs slow.
• Find out what the inverter, if there is one, actually feeds, and how old the battery is. Ask for the purchase bill.
• Locate the water motor switch and find out whether it is yours, shared, or automatic.

4. Get one electrician visit done before the furniture arrives

An empty flat is the cheapest flat to work in. Walls are reachable, nothing has to be moved, and one visit can clear the whole list.

• Hand over your written list from the walk-through: dead sockets, two-pin points to convert, loose switchplates, the RCCB question, and any dedicated points you need adding for an AC or washing machine.
• Ask for the earthing to be tested, not just looked at. This is the check nobody asks for and the one that matters most, particularly before a Delhi monsoon.
• Ask them to confirm what the ceiling fan hooks are anchored into before you hang anything new, especially if there is a false ceiling.
• Agree what is landlord work and what is yours before anything is done, if you are renting. Photographs and a written list make that conversation short.
• Get a free quote before agreeing to anything. Independent electricians quote free and set their own prices, so compare, and see how visits are usually billed and our hiring checklist.

For the rest of the move-in list beyond electrics, see moving into a new flat in Delhi, and the electrical upgrades worth doing covers what is worth spending on once you are settled.