Switchboard Upgrades

A switchboard is the central hub of your home’s electrical system. It’s the panel—usually located on a wall in your garage, hallway, or outside—where power from the electricity grid enters your home and is then distributed to different circuits (like your lights, appliances, or power points).

Dangers of old switchboards

Old switchboards often lack modern safety mechanisms such as a residual current devices (RCDs), also known as a safety switch and circuit breakers. Faults or overloads in outdated wiring can cause overheating and potentially start fires.

Protect your home and family with safety switches

Upgrading your switchboard to modern standards with circuit breakers and safety switches (see below) is the best way to protect you and your family from electric shock and increase prevention of electrical fires.

Is your switchboard keeping up with modern living?

Upgrading your switchboard isn’t just about safety—it’s about making sure your home can handle today’s electrical demands.

If you think about how many more electrical appliances we have as standard compared to 30 years ago –  EV chargers, dishwashers, air conditioners, induction cooktops, home entertainment devices – to name a few – you can see why homes need upgrading to power all of these devices, older switchboards often struggle to keep up. A switchboard upgrade ensures your home stays safe, efficient, and ready for the future.

Save money

If you have old fuses or even old circuit breakers with no integrated safety switches, upgrading can also save you money in the long run when the power goes out. It’s as simple as flicking a switch to restore your power rather than having call-out fees to have an electrician diagnose and rewire your fuses.

Installing safety switches on all the circuits is an easy way of preventing deadly electric shock and house fires, as they protect more of the electrical system and are more sensitive to electrical faults.

As safety switches have only become mandatory for new builds since the 1990s, if you have an older house, there is a chance your switchboard doesn’t have one. Considering 40% of house fires in NSW each year are caused by electrical faults and wiring, it’s not worth risking it.

If your switchboard is 25+ years old and never been touched then from a safety standpoint, even if you’ve never had issues with the electrical system, we would recommend upgrading it.

At a minimum we would recommend that all power points have safety switches installed on them.

You might be shocked to know how many old and dangerous switchboards still exist in Sydney.

Not sure if yours is up to date? Feel free to open your fuse box, take a photo of your switchboard and email it to us for assessment.

Click here to find out how to identify if you have a safety switch installed and how to test it.