They're like that in this apartment we're renting and I keep seeing them elsewhere. I don't get it.
this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2025
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The real question is why did the UK decide that on the outlet itself is the best place for that switch, as opposed to e.g. in the US where outlets are sometimes wired to a switch located next to the door to the room?
Switches located next to the door are for lighting, as opposed to switches on the socket which mean you can fully turn off your rice cooker without unplugging it. We do sometimes have sockets in the UK with the switch at the door, but they are usually a different shape socket that is designed for a lower current and is only intended to be used for floor lamps.
The specific-plugs-for-lamps think is very rare these days. The reason for it is that it's not uncommon for our plugs to be on a high amperage circuit - sometimes 30A, occasionally higher - that can't be safely controlled with a light switch or similar, so the lamp-only circuit will be capped at, say, 3A with unusual plugs to avoid someone trying to connect a tumble dryer.
Do you have individual switches for each plug socket / outlet wired next to the door? That seems like it would take a lot of wiring, and need a lot of switches.
The room I'm currently in has six double sockets spread out around the room. They each have one switch per socket like in the post's image. If they were wired back to the door, they would need a lot more wiring, and one of the two entrance doors would have to be chosen. You'd then have to walk to that door every time you wanted to turn something off.
It seems like a lot more work for no real benefit.
No, the rooms I've seen wired with lamp circuits would typically have one switch next to the entrance with several outlets wired together to it in the same circuit, along with another circuit of several unswitched outlets. Flipping that one switch would turn all the lamps on at once.
(More rarely, there might be two lamp circuits in a room, with two switches controlling two groups of outlets. I think my parents' formal living room might be like that, but we barely used it and I haven't lived there for 20 years, so I can't quite remember.)
Nah, that's what three-way switches are for: you can have a switch at each entrance that controls the same group of outlets.
So you don't get confused which outlet the switch turns off.
Having a switch next to the door would be useful if you're using that socket for a lamp but not if you're using them for anything else. In my kitchen the sockets for my under counter oven and fridge are under the counter and the switches are above it so I can easily access them.
That is specifically what switched outlets in north America are intended to be used for.