Three different people may come to look at electrical safety, for three different reasons: an auditor checking recent certified work, an electricity distributor after a shock, and a regulator’s inspector after an incident or a complaint. Each is described below with the state whose own page sets it out. The emergency steps are at the top of this page, because they cannot wait.
An auditor checking certified work, in Victoria
In Victoria, every piece of electrical installation work needs a Certificate of Electrical Safety under the Electricity Safety Act 1998 and the Electricity Safety (General) Regulations 2019. Registered electrical contractors and licensed electrical workers complete the certificate and give the customer a copy. Work described on these certificates has been audited since 1999.
- Who comes. An auditor engaged by Energy Safe, to audit the work described on the certificate your contractor or electrician gave you.
- How you know them. Every auditor must carry a personal identification card, visible and available for you to see on request.
- Your choice. The audit is free and optional, and you can ask the auditor to leave at any time.
- If the work fails. The auditor notifies the contractor or electrician, who must come back and fix the items notified at no cost to you.
Compare that with a work health and safety inspector, who may enter a workplace without consent.
The distributor or network after a shock or tingle
Queensland’s Electrical Safety Office says a shock or tingle is not normal: it can mean a wiring problem in or near the home that could lead to something more dangerous. Its advice on a shock or tingle, from that page and the video transcript on it, is below in full.
After a shock or tingle, in Queensland
- If the shock or tingle came from an appliance or a metal fitting such as a water tap, contact your electricity distributor immediately, at any hour of any day. The distributor will make the situation safe and investigate the cause. The Electrical Safety Office lists the distributors and their numbers on its shocks and tingles page: Energex, Essential Energy for the Goondiwindi area, Ergon Energy for the rest of Queensland, and Rio Tinto at Weipa. Each one’s own page gives the line to call: Energex, 13 19 62 for emergencies, shocks and tingles included; Ergon Energy, 13 16 70 for emergencies, shocks and tingles included; Essential Energy, 13 20 80 for emergencies; and Rio Tinto at Weipa, 1800 820 711, its power outage and general works hotline.
- Stay well clear of the spot and warn others.
- Until the property has been made safe, keep your hands off the meter box, the switchboard, any appliances, and metal fittings such as taps. Don’t turn your power off either, because you may get a shock from the switchboard.
- If it was a piece of electrical equipment, stop using it straight away, and have the distributor or a licensed electrician check it.
- Anyone who has had a shock should get medical advice. The office warns that a shock can have serious delayed effects, even if the person feels fine.
In Western Australia, the law goes further. Building and Energy says you are legally required to report any electric shock, and any damage to property from an electrical incident, so that the cause can be investigated and corrected, and it warns that even minor shocks can lead to electrocution. Reports go to your network operator, which its page lists (Western Power and Horizon Power among them). If you don’t know the operator, Building and Energy takes the report on freecall 1800 678 198, at all hours, from anywhere in Western Australia. On their own pages, Western Power gives 13 13 51 for emergencies and outages, at all hours, and Horizon Power gives 13 23 51 for faults and outages, every day around the clock.
A regulator’s inspector after an incident or a complaint
Victoria: incidents that must be reported
The Electricity Safety (General) Regulations 2019 make reporting compulsory for any electrical incident that causes, or could cause, death or injury, significant damage to property or a serious risk to public safety, or that involves accidental contact with an electrical installation or an electric shock from one. The duty falls on people including the electrical worker, operators of high voltage and complex electrical installations, and railway operators; electricity suppliers and fire authorities report under the Electricity Safety Act 1998.
Energy Safe takes electrical incident reports on 1800 000 922, or on the form on its incident page.
Victoria: complaints
Energy Safe deals with complaints about the safety and technical compliance of gas, electricity and pipelines, not billing, customer service, quality of work, or contract and money disputes. It accepts anonymous complaints and deals with them on their merits, though it may not be able to investigate one if it cannot contact the person who made it. If you are unhappy with how a complaint was handled, you can ask Energy Safe for an internal review, or complain to the Victorian Ombudsman.
Queensland: unlicensed work
The Electrical Safety Office says Queensland’s electrical safety inspectors investigate and prosecute unlicensed electrical work, and do-it-yourself electrical work counts as unlicensed. As at October 2026, its page gives penalties of up to $40,000 for an individual, and where a breach puts someone at risk of death or serious injury or illness, a maximum of $600,000 or five years’ imprisonment for an individual, and $3,000,000 for a corporation. It asks people to report unlicensed or dangerous electrical work to it.
Queensland: what counts as electrical work
The office points to section 18 of the Electrical Safety Act 2002, under which electrical work covers making, building, installing, testing, maintaining, repairing, altering, removing or replacing electrical equipment. Its examples include installing a power point, replacing a light switch, putting up a ceiling fan in place of a light fitting, and replacing the plug on an extension lead.
Who regulates electrical safety where
| Where | Body | What the source says it does |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | Building Commission NSW | Receives the Certificate of Compliance for Electrical Work that electricians must submit, confirming work has been tested and complies. |
| Victoria | Energy Safe Victoria | Licenses and registers electricians, and issues and audits Certificates of Electrical Safety. |
| Queensland | Electrical Safety Office, Office of Industrial Relations | Develops and enforces standards for electrical safety. |
| South Australia | Office of the Technical Regulator | Electrical, gas and plumbing safety and technical regulation. |
| Western Australia | Building and Energy | Technical and safety regulation of all the electrical industry and most of the gas industry. |
| Tasmania | Consumer, Building and Occupational Services | Electrical safety legislation, inspections, auditing, investigations, licensing, standards, equipment and notifications. |
| Northern Territory | NT WorkSafe | Electrical safety laws, licensing, equipment safety, notification requirements and inspections. |
| ACT | Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate | Licensing, inspections and certificates for electrical safety. |
Bodies are renamed and duties move between them, so check each one’s own site before relying on a row. Gas has its own regulators in some states, covered in the guide to gas safety.