Electrical questions we are asked most
If yours is not here, call or WhatsApp: we would rather answer it than have you guess with electricity. See also our rates and solar installation cost.
- A breaker keeps tripping. Can I just keep resetting it?
- No. It tripped for a reason: either a real fault or a genuine overload. Reset once; if it goes again, leave it off and call. Repeatedly resetting into a fault is how a fault becomes a fire, and fitting a larger breaker to stop it is the most dangerous thing anyone can do to your installation.
- How quickly can you reach me?
- Within about 90 minutes across central Nairobi. Gated estates in Karen and Runda add gate clearance, and Gigiri properties often need contractor vetting arranged days in advance: for those, getting pre-cleared before you need us is worth doing.
- What does a callout cost?
- KES 1,500–2,500 in business hours, deducted from the invoice if you go ahead. Nights, Sundays and public holidays are higher, and we give you the figure on the phone before setting off.
- What licences should I ask an electrician for?
- Two, because EPRA issues them separately: the contractor licence held by the business, and the electrician's own class. C1 covers low voltage, three-phase, up to four storeys, which fits most Nairobi residential work. Ask for both, along with the NCA registration, and we send ours in writing with the quotation.
- What is a test certificate and why does it matter?
- It records the measured readings for your installation: insulation resistance, earth fault loop impedance, RCD trip times. It is what an insurer asks for after a fire and what a buyer's surveyor asks for at sale. We issue one on every job that changes an installation.
- How do you take payment?
- M-Pesa against a receipt for each stage, or bank transfer. Larger jobs run on a staged schedule tied to milestones, and we do not ask for a large deposit before materials are on site.
- Half the house has power and half does not. What is happening?
- On a three-phase supply, almost certainly a lost phase. Switch off anything with a three-phase motor immediately (lifts, borehole pumps, air conditioning plant) because running on two phases will destroy them within minutes.
- Does my house need rewiring or just repairs?
- Three findings push it to a rewire: rubber insulation that crumbles when disturbed, a rewireable fuse board rather than MCBs with an RCD, and no working earth electrode. We test rather than guess, and if a partial job will do we will say so.
- How do I compare solar quotes?
- By the battery, not the panels. Two honest quotes for the same system size can differ by hundreds of thousands of shillings entirely on battery chemistry and warranted cycle count. Also check the inverter surge rating if you run a borehole pump.
- Our generator runs monthly. Is that enough testing?
- No. Running the engine proves the engine. It says nothing about the transfer switch, which is the part that actually has to operate. An annual test with the building transferred onto the set under real load is the only meaningful one.
- Do you handle KPLC connections and meters?
- Yes: new connections, upgrades, meter relocation and single-to-three-phase. We prepare the installation and get the application right, which removes the commonest avoidable delay. The scheduling itself is KPLC's and we will not pretend otherwise.
- Which areas do you cover?
- Across Nairobi and the satellite towns: Westlands, Karen, Kilimani, Runda, Muthaiga, Gigiri, Kitisuru, Upper Hill and the rest, out to Syokimau, Rongai and the Thika Road corridor. Each area page explains what is actually different about working there.
Power fault in Nairobi? Call before you touch the board.
We answer 24 hours a day and aim to have an EPRA-licensed electrician with you within 90 minutes across central Nairobi.
If anything is sparking, smoking or wet, switch off at the mains first and do not touch the board.