Electrical
The consumer unit is where your home's electrical protection lives. An older fuse board without RCD protection cannot disconnect fast enough to protect against an electric shock, and will not support modern additions such as an EV charger or a solar array.
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We upgrade consumer units across Kent, test the installation afterwards and issue the certification — so the board is not just newer, it is demonstrably safe.
An upgrade is often the first step before adding solar, storage or vehicle charging, because those all depend on the board being able to carry and protect them.
01 Consumer Unit Upgrades
Rewireable fuses, no RCD protection, a board with no spare ways, scorch marks, or breakers that trip without an obvious cause are all reasons to have the installation looked at.
We test before recommending anything — sometimes the board is fine and the fault is on a circuit.
02 Consumer Unit Upgrades
If a circuit starts drawing more than its cable can safely carry, the fuse or circuit breaker opens and the circuit goes dead. That protects the wiring in the walls — what it was designed to do, and why it is still there in a modern board.
An RCD does a different sum. It compares the current flowing out along the live against the current returning along the neutral, and any mismatch is current leaving the circuit somewhere it should not. Leakage to earth through a person is too small to trouble a fuse, and exactly what an RCD catches.
An RCBO puts both jobs into one device on one circuit. Where a single RCD covers half a board, a failing outside socket can take the lights, the sockets and the freezer with it. Where each circuit has its own RCBO, only the faulty circuit goes and the rest of the house carries on.
A rewireable fuse box does none of that second job. Its fuse is a length of wire chosen to melt, so it is replaced rather than reset, and a carrier rewired with whatever wire was in the drawer removes the protection while looking exactly the same once the cover is back on.
03 Consumer Unit Upgrades
Boards are specified around the property they serve — its size, and the loading it will realistically see. A board that suited a house with an immersion heater and two ring circuits is not the right board for the same house with an induction hob, an electric shower and a car charging outside.
It is worth being clear about what a new board does not do: it does not improve the cable behind it. If a run of wiring is near the end of its life, though, that turns up with the covers off rather than a year later.
04 Consumer Unit Upgrades
The supply has to come off, and it stays off while the work is done, so the timing is worth agreeing in advance. Nothing is opened until the installation is dead and has been proved dead.
Older installations are frequently wired to a plan nobody ever wrote down — the writing on the front of a board is not evidence of what sits behind it. Knowing what each way genuinely feeds is what makes the rest of the job predictable instead of exploratory.
The new board then goes in and circuits are energised and proved one at a time rather than all at once. The labelling is written from what the tests actually found, rather than copied off the old cover, which is how a spur ends up spending years named as something it is not.
05 Consumer Unit Upgrades
A board change is signed off with an Electrical Installation Certificate. It is not a receipt. It names who carried out the work and who inspected and tested it, and it is the document a buyer's surveyor, a letting agent or the next electrician to open the board will ask for.
Keep it with the property's paperwork, so whoever comes after starts from a record rather than a guess. Behind the signature sits a schedule of the readings taken, circuit by circuit:
06 On site
Coutts Electrical's own photographs of their own completed installations.
Photographs are Coutts Electrical's own, of their own completed work. Captions name the system type rather than a location, because the images are not tied to a named customer or town.
07 What customers said
Real reviews from the Google profile Coutts Electrical publish on their own site, reproduced word for word.
I had a bank holiday DIY emergency and needed someone to come out and make it safe and get our power back on. Coutts answered and Max was round within a couple of hours. Really easy communication, no hassle and easy to deal with, will definitely be using them for future jobs.
Very efficient service from Max and Alex. They made completing an Electrical Condition Report and then repairs where required in or office seamless and not intrusive at all. Really great for peace of mind. Thank you
Great service and price, Max follows up with paperwork and emails. So pleasant to find a proactive supplier
Very happy with electrical work undertaken by Max of Coutts Electrical, and his team. They installed an electric radiator and new light in the kitchen. They offered advice and were professional and tidy. Would highly recommend.
A fast, efficient, effective, reliable and highly professional company, most recommended.
Excellent and fast work, highly recommended!
Max and his team did a splendid job for usThey took great care to ensure that the right solutions were found and implemented. They completed the tasks on time, dealing with unexpected issues as they arose.Max and the team were friendly, polite, punctual and helpful.Everything was left neat and tidy.As we were unable to use our home until the work was completed we were also grateful that everything was done so quickly
Max responded very quickly to my request to review an electrical fault and efficiently dealt with the issue. I’m delighted that I’ve found Max and will definitely be calling upon him for any future electrical work.
08 Questions
Identifying the need for electrical maintenance in your home or business involves paying attention to signs and conducting periodic checks: Do you face frequent electrical issues — blown fuses, tripped circuit breakers, flickering lights, regular power outages? If your property has old wiring, it may be time for an upgrade. Do you get unusual odours or see sparks when using electrical outlets or switches? Have you experienced mild shocks when using appliances or switches of late? Sudden spikes in energy bills can also be a signal that you need electrical maintenance immediately. Our team will help you with inspections, repair, maintenance, and other crucial electrical services.
Sometimes, and testing is what tells you. Adding protection upstream of an old board buys earth-leakage protection and nothing else; the rest of the board is unchanged behind it. On some installations that is a sensible interim step. On others the work is better put into the board itself.
09 Related
10 From the blog
Are you not aware about the difference between an Electrical Consumer Unit and a Fuse Box? Here is a guide to help you understand before you make the…
11 Start here
Tell us your postcode and roughly what you are after. We come out, survey it properly, and put a written price in front of you — with the VAT position confirmed on it.
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