The ordinary domestic consumer of electricity usually takes it for granted that if anything goes wrong with an installation or appliance, fuse will operate and thus prevent risk. There are conditions under which this will not be the case and the fact may be of some importance because of the increasing utilization of electricity per consumer and the wear and tear on the equipment. Fire outbreaks attributed to electricity and resulting in calls to the fire service are growing in number and, in the absence of a system of periodic test and inspection of domestic electrical equipment, it is the more desirable that the automatic protective devices should function when failures occur.The consumer often defeats the protective scheme by misuse, but mainly because of lack of technical appreciation of the risk incurred, and the paper is writtenin the hope that the discussion will deal with the responsibilities implicit in service, whether fire risk is likely to grow, and the extent to which it is possible, or desirable, to recommend protective measures.