Plugs, voltage and power

Even before the sun cream, there is the adaptor. Power sockets in Mauritius are of two kinds: the British socket with three square pins and the socket with two round pins. The voltage is 220 to 230 volts. The country’s low-voltage distribution network is, as it happens, designed for 400 and 230 volts.

In hotels, the fittings vary from one establishment to the next, and it is worth checking before you leave. At Trou aux Biches, Sakoa Boutique Hotel equips its rooms with British three-pin sockets at 220 volts and provides adaptors; its neighbour, Le Palmiste, gives a current of 220 to 240 volts and a shaver socket. At Balaclava, the InterContinental states a voltage of 230 volts. At Le Morne, LUX* Le Morne has European sockets, along with USB ports. At Pointe aux Canonniers, Maison du Nord offers an international socket at 220 volts.

Several hotels have also fitted their rooms with USB charging ports: such is the case at the Radisson Blu at Poste Lafayette, at LUX* Grand Baie, in all its accommodation, and at Constance Le Chaland, on the south-east coast. For the rest, an adaptor for British sockets remains the simplest precaution, especially for anyone renting a villa or an apartment.

Electricity in Mauritius is the business of the Central Electricity Board, a state-owned company founded in 1952 and overseen by the Ministry of Energy and Public Utilities. It alone is responsible for the transmission, distribution and supply of electricity in the country, and it employs 2,340 people in Mauritius and Rodrigues. It generates about 47 per cent of the electricity itself, in four thermal power stations and ten hydroelectric plants, and buys the rest, about 53 per cent, from private producers: independent power producers and small distributed generation installations. The country has set itself the target of drawing 60 per cent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2035.

Electricity also moves a growing share of transport. The Metro Express runs on it, and the energy recovered when its trains brake lights the stations and powers the ticket machines. The main public bus company has, in 2026, 105 electric buses charged from the grid, and intends to rely more and more on solar power.

To carry this power, the network comprised 11,151 kilometres of overhead lines and underground cables at 30 June 2025: 9,985 kilometres overhead, 1,166 underground. It continues to grow, by 88 kilometres of overhead lines and 24 kilometres of buried cables in the 2024-2025 year alone.

Consumption follows the heat. On 5 February 2025, at 21:00, at the height of the southern summer, the grid recorded its all-time peak: 567.9 megawatts, 8 per cent above the 2024 maximum of 525.7 megawatts. In 2014, the peak did not exceed 446.2 megawatts, a rise of 27 per cent in eleven years, which the company puts down to economic growth, industrial activity, episodes of extreme weather and household needs. Over the same period, network losses fell in 2025 to 5.95 per cent, their lowest level since 2018.

Outages scheduled for maintenance work are announced in advance and can be looked up by locality or by street. Their times remain approximate: power may come back a little earlier or a little later, and work is sometimes postponed in bad weather. During an outage, it is best to switch off and unplug sensitive appliances until the power returns. Lines, however, must always be treated as live, even during an announced interruption, since they may be switched back on at any moment.

In the event of a fault or danger, the fault line is 130, open twenty-four hours a day. A fallen or damaged line is never to be touched, nor is anything in contact with it: move away, keep others away, and call 130 at once. For any other question, the number is 8912. In a rented villa, if only part of the house is without power, the fault probably lies in the internal wiring, and the fuse box is the first thing to check. If the neighbours are in the dark as well, the fault is on the network.