Why is my home at extreme risk of electrical fire according to my insurance company?

Insurance companies use a range of data to assess fire risk in a property. If yours has come back as extreme risk, it almost certainly relates to the age or condition of your electrical installation. Here is what that actually means in plain terms and what you should do about it. Why insurers flag electrical fire risk Your insurer may have used the age of your property, previous claims data, or a survey report to assign a risk rating. The most common reasons a home is rated as extreme electrical fire risk include having a consumer unit (fuse board) that is more than 25 years old, using rewirable fuse wire instead of modern circuit breakers, having no RCD protection on socket or lighting circuits, having outdated wiring such as rubber-insulated cables which degrade over time, having had previous electrical work done without certification, or having received an EICR report with Category 1 or Category 2 faults noted. What you can safely check yourself Look at your consumer unit. If it is a cream or brown plastic box with individual fuse carriers that take fuse wire, it is almost certainly obsolete. If there are no RCD devices visible, which are the switches with a Test button on them, you have no automatic protection against electric shock or many types of fault that cause fires. Do not open any panels or touch any wiring. What an EICR is and why you need one An Electrical Installation Condition Report is a formal inspection of your entire electrical system carried out by a qualified electrician. It grades faults as C1 meaning danger present, C2 meaning potentially dangerous, or C3 meaning improvement recommended. If your insurer has seen a report with C1 or C2 codes, that is why you have been rated extreme risk. What to do right now Contact a registered electrician who is listed on a competent person scheme such as NICEIC, NAPIT, or Elecsa. Ask for an EICR and tell them your insurer has flagged extreme risk. Depending on findings, you may need a consumer unit replacement or rewire. Share the completed EICR with your insurer as this can reduce your risk rating. Do not delay. An unprotected wiring fault can cause a fire while you are asleep.