What's specific to Reservoir
A post-war suburb
Settlement once hugged High and Edwardes streets, with the rest farmed, until rapid building in the early post-war years. The Housing Commission built large estates in the east, and the 1918 Merrilands Estate was an early garden city design.
Townhouses on old blocks
At the 2021 Census, 63.2% of occupied homes were separate houses and 32.5% were townhouses or similar. 36.4% were rented and 30.9% owned outright.
Two networks meet here
AusNet's Thomastown zone substation is the main source of supply for Reservoir, Thomastown, Lalor, Kingsbury and Bundoora, and its customers are split between AusNet and Jemena. Your bill says which: AusNet takes faults on 13 17 99, Jemena on 131 626.
Ceramic fuses and the meter panel
A board from the 1950s or 60s often still has ceramic fuse holders you pull out and rewire. They protect the wiring from overload, but not people from shocks: that's what a safety switch does, and these boards were built before safety switches were common.
The board's backing is the other issue. WorkSafe Victoria lists pitch-based boards and asbestos cement fuse boards among typical asbestos locations, and the Victorian Government's Asbestos Hub says homes built or renovated before 1990 likely contain asbestos. An electrician will assess it before drilling or replacing anything, and a licensed removalist handles the panel if it has to go.
Our page on old fuse boxes covers the upgrade itself.
Signs the old board in your Reservoir house needs work
- A fuse that keeps blowing on the same circuit
- A fuse holder that's cracked, scorched or warm
- No safety switch anywhere on the board
- A black, brittle backing panel behind the meter
- Power points that spark when you plug something in
Our take in Reservoir
If your house still has ceramic fuses, we'd make the board the first job before adding anything that draws real power. If you're a landlord, it isn't optional: rentals must have circuit breakers and safety switches on the power and lighting circuits, and some older fuse boards can only meet that with a full replacement.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.