Household power supplied at 214V

That's the lowest we've monitored it at, does anyone know if we can report this as a fault?
Obviously causes oven issues, anything else likely to be affected?
Thanks very much hopefully the alcohol will stay cold and the heaters will stay warm! . :)

230 volts + or- 6% some appliances particularly refrigerators dont like this low voltage and may not start the motor/compressor. Power tools like skil saws and welders will be way down on performance.

6% is the tolerance allowed by the network suppliers, but usually a supply at a house is at least 225V and more usually around 235- 240V. Unless you live out the back of beyond somewhere, or up a very long drive for example.

BUT, that measurement is without any load on the house. If you turn half your oven on, your hot water is heating, and your heatpump is running flat out, then the voltage could be lower. There is an additional allowance for voltage drop of 5% within your house wiring, when under load.

So depending where, and how you are taking that measurement, it is not necessarily outside the allowed range. But it is unusually low.

It is quite possible that there is something wrong with the wiring to your house. For example, if you measure the voltage at a power point close to the switchboard, then turn a few elements on your range on full - if the voltage you are measuring drops significantly, then there could be a problem. Noticing lights flickering a lot when switching on appliances etc, can also be an indication.

An electrician can carry out more accurate tests and contact the network operator if they suspect a problem.

What are you using to measure the voltage?
Do you have any other indication of problems?

There was a fault here a while ago and the voltage was very low. Incandescent lights gave a faint glow. Nothing much worked except for my Philips CFL lights that were normal brightness. Another brand of CFL self destructed.
I was amused that none of my neighbours had any lights going. It seems they had not got any CFLs yet.

Thanks all, sorry didn't get back until now. Yes, we were measuring inside the house. The voltage drop problem is that we are on a fairly long, too-low voltage off shoot with far too many households on it and yes, we are rural (albeit West Auckland), lol. The power company won't pay for a suitable transformer, and neither will the households concerned, including us, so a bit of a stalemate.

So looks like we are at the bottom point on the allowable, and will have to suck it up.

Thanks very much for the very helpful info everyone, have a lovely weekend all!

It would not be a good time to get anything Electrical installed on the spur line as the Power Company will insist on an upgrade at someone else's expense.