Here we have schuko sockets, and our water (storage) heater is plugged in to one of those, it is a 2 kW load, and that has been working well for many years, but if I buy a new one today, I had to skip the plug, and have fixed wiring trough a safety switch. That is because that sometimes it is getting hot, In those cases I have seen it has been the molded plug that is the problem. .. so OK it is safer with the new requirement.
