Plug socket hot to touch

What a hot socket is telling you

Electricity makes heat wherever it meets resistance. A good connection has very little resistance, so a socket stays cool. A loose screw, a worn spring contact inside the socket or a cable that has been squashed raises the resistance at one small point. That point gets hot, the plastic around it softens, and the connection gets worse. It is a slow fault that builds over weeks or months, which is why it is worth acting on the first time you notice it.

London Fire Brigade names “hot plugs and sockets” alongside scorch marks, flickering lights and breakers that trip for no obvious reason as signs of loose or dangerous wiring. The brigade says it has attended 26,376 electrical fires in London since 2017.

What to do right now

1. Switch the socket off at its own switch and unplug everything from it.
2. If it is very hot, smells of burning or shows brown marks, switch off that circuit at the consumer unit (fuse box). If you do not know which circuit it is, use the main switch.
3. Do not unscrew the faceplate. Behind it are live terminals.
4. Feel the plug tops you removed. A hot plug top points to the plug or the appliance. A hot wall plate with a cool plug points to the socket or the wiring.
5. Leave it off and get it checked. Our burning smell, sparking or hot sockets page explains how that visit works.

If a socket is smoking or you can see flames, leave the room, close the door and call 999.

The common causes

What you notice	Likely cause	What an electrician does
One side of a double socket hot	Worn contacts in that outlet, often from a heavy load plugged in daily	Replaces the socket, checks the cable ends behind it
Whole faceplate warm, no heavy load	Loose terminal screw on the cable behind it	Remakes the connection, checks for heat damage to the cable
Hot plug top only	Loose wire inside the plug, wrong fuse, or a tired appliance	Checks the plug and appliance lead, advises on the appliance
Socket warm and lights flicker nearby	Loose connection on the circuit, sometimes at another socket	Tests the whole circuit to find the weak point
Extension lead hot	Too much load on one outlet	Explains the load, may suggest an extra socket

Why it happens so often in Barnet flats

Half of all homes in Barnet are flats or maisonettes (50.2%), according to the VOA Council Tax stock of properties 2025. Many are conversions of Edwardian and interwar houses in Finchley, Hendon and the streets around East Barnet, or rooms in mansion blocks. A converted flat often has fewer sockets than modern life needs. The result is a single double socket in the kitchen running a kettle, a microwave and a washing machine, or a plug in heater and a tumble dryer sharing one wall plate in a small bedroom.

Heaters and dryers draw a lot of current for a long time. That is the load pattern that finds a slightly loose screw and turns it into a hot spot. A third of Barnet homes were built between 1919 and 1939, and in those houses the sockets you see may sit on cable from a rewire decades ago. Older cable that has been run hot for years can go brittle at the terminals.

You can read more about the borough and the faults its housing tends to produce on our Barnet page.

Things you can do without tools

• Spread heavy loads. Do not run a heater and a tumble dryer off the same double socket.
• Do not plug one extension lead into another.
• Check plug tops for cracks, scorch marks or a loose cable grip.
• Use the right fuse in a plug. Appliance makers state it in the manual.
• Keep heaters and chargers away from curtains and bedding.

None of this fixes a hot socket. It only stops you making one.

What the repair visit involves

An electrician will isolate the circuit, take the faceplate off and look at the terminals. Heat damage is easy to see: brown or black plastic, hardened cable insulation, a screw that turns more than it should. Most of the time the fix is a new socket and a remade connection. If the cable insulation behind the socket has cooked, the damaged end is cut back to good copper, and the circuit is tested to make sure nothing else on it is failing.

Where one hot socket is a sign of a tired circuit, the electrician will test the rest of the ring. That is a ring circuit: the loop of cable that links all the sockets in one part of the home. A single loose joint anywhere on the ring can push extra current through another part of it.

The price is confirmed after a look at the job, because a quick socket change and a damaged cable run are very different pieces of work.

If the socket also sparked or smells

A hot socket that also smells of burning, or that sparks when you plug in, is further along. Read burning smell from a plug socket for the steps, and keep that circuit off until it has been looked at.

Renting in Barnet

If you rent, tell your landlord or managing agent in writing and keep a copy. Under the electrical safety standards guidance for England, landlords must have the electrics inspected and tested at least every 5 years and must fix faults the report finds. A hot socket between inspections is still the landlord’s repair.

Check who you let in

Any electrician you use should be able to show you their competent person scheme registration, and you can check it on that scheme’s online register. Replacing a socket is not notifiable work under Part P, but anything that adds a new circuit is, so it helps to use someone who can certify it.