Yes, I remember that bathrooms in the UK didn’t have power outlets. (This was a while back, so it might have changed.) It was annoying, but I just put it down to one of those weird British things. (Gratuitous British stereotyping omitted.)
Oh! I hadn’t noticed the size. Ha ha!
It’s a safety issue to prevent electric shock (water and electricity…) all homes here (Aus, don’t know about UK) now must have RCD’s installed to prevent this, so power in bathrooms is not an issue anymore where RCD’s are in place
(my friends friend died about 20 years ago while blow drying her hair in the bathroom, the floor was wet from the shower.)
Interesting. RCD == https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device, I assume. I’ve not really registered the existence of these, but I’ll add it to my list of things to check out. Thanks.
Here they are called GFI–ground fault interrupter.
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Ours have to be fixed (when renting or selling a home), but it appears there are other types available too:
What are the main types of RCD?
RCDs can help protect you from electric shock in potentially dangerous areas like bathrooms and gardens, and there are various types of RCDs that can be used to make sure you are always as safe as possible.
Fixed RCDs
These are installed in the consumer unit (fusebox) and can provide protection to individual or groups of circuits. A fixed RCD provides the highest level of protection as it protects all the wiring and the sockets on a circuit, and any connected appliances.
Socket-Outlet RCDs
These are special socket-outlets with an RCD built into them which can be used in place of a standard socket-outlet. This type of RCD provides protection only to the person in contact with equipment, including its lead, plugged into the special socket-outlet.
Portable RCDs
These plug into any standard socket-outlet. An appliance can then be plugged into the RCD. They are useful when neither fixed nor socket-outlet RCDs are available but, as with socket-outlet RCDs, they provide protection only to the person in contact with the equipment, including its lead, plugged into the portable RCD.
So is there only one fixed RCD for the entire house? This is different from a circuit breaker, right? I found this:
Yes one fixed for the who house. Apparently better than a circuit breaker. (I’m certainly no electrician)
What is an RCD?
An RCD, or residual current device, is a life-saving device which is designed to prevent you from getting a fatal electric shock if you touch something live, such as a bare wire. It can also provide some protection against electrical fires. RCDs offer a level of personal protection that ordinary fuses and circuit-breakers cannot provide.
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the page I’ve been quoting from is here:
http://www.electricalsafetyfirst.org.uk/guides-and-advice/electrical-items/rcds-explained/
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In our house every outlet in a room that has plumbing (kitchen, bathroom) is a GFI outlet.
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If I don’t know whether I have one of these RCD/GFI things, I suppose I probably don’t. Safety is high on my list of priorities. I’ll look into it tomorrow (well, later today).
Yes, required in all locations near water: laundry room, kitchen sink area, bathroom, outdoors. It’s required in new construction or legal remodeling. One per circuit is sufficient.
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@Faheem, I have a fancy hotel mirror with lights that I leave on one side of the sink in the bathroom, surprisingly guests move the mirror and put it in the cabinet under the sink – so I guess nobody uses it. Naturally, there is a regular over-the-sink mirror as well.
I also have a full length mirror in the bedroom.
Ugh, yes. While a standard outlet runs $2-5, the GFCI ones are $25-50. We just had to replace over 40 outlets in our new place as every outlet in a bathroom, kitchen, basement and garage has to be one (or on a GFCI circuit).
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They seem much less expensive when they save your life. I once had a client who called me to call an electrician because none of the electricity in the kitchen was working. It turned out that he’d cleaned the electric coffee maker by submersing it in water while it was plugged in and turned on. Luckily for him the GFI outlet tripped.
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Oh, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate them. But we actually had to add outlets to a bathroom…we couldn’t just leave it be an no outlet bathroom. And what really added up was the basement and garage. It’s so fun to bring an old house up to code… What really was frustrating was having to update the carpeting because it was out of code. Granted, I hated the carpet and would have replaced in within a few years, but I couldn’t move my family in until it was replaced. 3,000 sq ft of it. I would get it if we were turning it into a rental, but why should the city say I have to have new carpet before I can move into a house I own… I know they want to keep properties safe and to prevent slum lords, but some of the items on the list were a bit ridiculous. It reminds me of some host’s house rules that others have mentioned 
Carpet was a code violation? I live in a location with very strict codes, and even they don’t have a carpet code [that I know of.] My ancient house is all hardwood floors, so different issues.
I feel your pain. We did this same this winter.
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