UK Electrician Pricing Guide 2026: What to Charge for Electrical Work

Setting the right rates as a UK electrician is not simply a matter of checking what your competitors charge and matching them. Your pricing needs to cover your actual costs — NICEIC or NAPIT fees, test equipment calibration, van, insurance, continuing professional development — and deliver a sustainable margin. This 2026 guide covers call-out rates, emergency premiums, pricing for the most common electrical jobs, EV charger installations, materials markup, commercial contracts, and Part P compliance. Use it as a benchmark to check your rates are competitive without undervaluing your work.

Call-Out and Hourly Rates

Electrical call-out rates in the UK vary significantly by region, and also by the type of work — a diagnostic fault-finding visit commands a different rate from a straightforward swap of a faulty socket. The following ranges reflect standard 2026 weekday rates:

• Standard call-out and first hour: £65–£160 depending on region. London and the South East sit toward £120–£160 for the first hour. The North of England, Scotland, and Wales typically range from £65–£100.
• Additional hours: £40–£95 per hour after the first. The additional hour rate should be lower than the first-hour rate as it does not need to cover travel or initial setup time.
• Half-day rate (up to 4 hours): £200–£380. Useful for jobs you can predict will run 2–4 hours without being sure of the exact duration.
• Day rate (up to 8 hours): £300–£550. Standard for consumer unit upgrades, partial rewires, or any job that will fill a working day on site.

Emergency and Out-of-Hours Rates

Electrical emergencies — total loss of power, tripping consumer units, sparking wiring, or suspected dangerous installations — require immediate response and justify a significant premium over standard rates. Communicate your emergency rates clearly at the point of booking, before you dispatch:

• Evening rates (after 6pm on weekdays): 25–50% premium. A minimum 1–2 hour charge applies regardless of how quickly the fault is resolved.
• Weekend rates: 50–75% premium on standard weekday rates. Weekend call-outs for loss of power or dangerous situations are market-accepted at double-time.
• Bank holiday rates: 75–100% premium. A bank holiday emergency call-out in London can legitimately be £200–£300+ for the first hour.
• Minimum 1–2 hour charge: apply a minimum charge for all emergency call-outs. This compensates for travel, late-night disruption, and commitment to attend within a short window.

EICR Pricing

Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICRs) are legally required for all privately rented properties in England and recommended for all property sales. They represent a significant volume of work for most domestic electricians. Pricing EICRs correctly — not too low to attract volume, not so low that you cannot make a margin — is important:

• EICR for a 1-bedroom flat: £100–£200. A straightforward installation with a single consumer unit and a small number of circuits typically takes 2–3 hours including testing and certificate preparation.
• EICR for a 2-bedroom flat or terrace: £150–£250. Allows for a larger number of circuits and any additional testing complexity.
• EICR for a 3-bedroom house: £180–£350. Three-bedroom semi-detached and detached houses with modern consumer units can be tested in 3–4 hours. Older properties with non-standard wiring or large numbers of circuits take longer.
• EICR for a 4-5 bedroom house: £250–£500. Larger properties with complex electrical installations, multiple consumer units, or outbuildings can require a full day.
• Landlord discount for multiple properties: volume discounts of 10–20% are standard for letting agents placing multiple EICRs. The reduction in travelling time and administrative overhead justifies the discount. Ensure the volume is guaranteed before discounting.

Consumer Unit Upgrades

Consumer unit replacements are one of the most common medium-value electrical jobs in the domestic market. Pricing must account for the consumer unit itself, labour, testing, certification, and the notification cost to Building Control:

• Consumer unit upgrade, standard specification (metal-clad, RCBOs): £400–£700 supply and fit including testing and Part P notification. The range reflects whether the existing wiring is sound and whether any circuit remediation is needed.
• Consumer unit upgrade with additional circuit remediation: £600–£900 where some existing circuits require retermination or partial remediation to achieve a satisfactory EICR outcome at the same time.
• Split-load consumer unit (older specification): still encountered in properties where a direct like-for-like replacement is the only practical option. Price comparably to above, noting that a split-load unit is no longer the recommended specification.
• Dual consumer unit or sub-board installation: £600–£1,000 for installations requiring a second consumer unit for an outbuilding, garage, or annexe, including a suitably rated feed cable and earth bonding.

EV Charger Installation Pricing

EV charger installations have become one of the fastest-growing categories of domestic electrical work. OZEV-approved installer status is required to install under the government grant scheme, and many domestic customers now request an OZEV-approved installer even for grant-ineligible installs because of the quality assurance it implies:

• Domestic EV charger (7 kW smart charge point, standard install): £600–£1,200 supply and fit. The range reflects the cable run length, whether consumer unit work is required, and the charger brand and specification chosen by the customer.
• Domestic EV charger with long cable run or challenging access: £900–£1,800. Any install requiring more than 10 metres of cable, significant surface-mounting, or consumer unit modifications falls toward the higher end.
• Commercial EV charger (single 7–22 kW unit, workplace car park): £1,500–£4,000 per unit. Commercial installs involve three-phase assessment, DNO liaison, load management systems, and more complex groundworks. Pricing per unit typically decreases for larger installations.
• Commercial EV charging hub (5+ charge points): priced as a project. Involves detailed electrical design, DNO G99 application in many cases, civil works for cable ducts, and a BMS-integrated load management system. Typical project range £8,000–£50,000+ depending on scale.
• OZEV grant (LEVI Grant): applicable for eligible residential and commercial charge point installations. Ensure you are current with the latest OZEV scheme rules as grant terms change regularly.

Other Common Electrical Job Pricing

A broad range of smaller electrical jobs makes up the bulk of most domestic electricians' workload. The following are typical supply-and-fit prices at standard 2026 weekday rates:

• New circuit installation (lighting or power): £150–£400 per circuit, depending on length of cable run and whether any making good of walls or ceilings is included.
• Lighting installation: £80–£250 per point, depending on fitting type. Recessed downlighters with fire-rated fittings and LED drivers sit toward the higher end; surface-mounted pendants at the lower end.
• Socket addition or replacement: £60–£150 for a simple addition to an existing circuit. New spur circuits are higher, per the circuit pricing above.
• Outdoor socket or lighting: £150–£350 supply and fit, including IP-rated equipment and any required surface conduit.
• Smoke alarm installation: £60–£120 per alarm for mains-wired interlinked alarms. Landlord smoke alarm packages (multiple interlinked alarms per property) can be priced per property at £250–£500.
• Full house rewire: £3,000–£8,000 for a 3-bedroom house depending on size, age, and specification. First-fix and second-fix typically priced separately for larger rewires.

Materials Markup

Materials markup is part of your revenue, not a courtesy service to your customers. Your trade accounts at CEF, Rexel, Sonepar, and local independents give you buying advantages that should translate into profit:

• Standard materials markup: 20–35% on trade price for cable, conduit, back boxes, switches, and sockets. This is widely accepted by customers and reflects your sourcing, delivery, and stock management.
• Consumer units and distribution equipment: 20–30% markup on trade cost. The absolute margin on a £200 consumer unit at 25% markup is meaningful.
• EV chargers and specialist equipment: 15–25% markup. The higher unit value means even a modest percentage generates a useful margin.
• Lighting and decorative fittings: 25–40% markup, particularly on premium brands. Customers choosing higher-specification fittings accept a higher overall materials cost.

Commercial Electrical Rates

Commercial work — offices, retail, light industrial, schools, and healthcare — is typically quoted differently from domestic work. Day rates and fixed project prices are the standard approach:

• Commercial day rate (single electrician): £200–£400 per day depending on region and contract type. Facilities management and main contractor frameworks typically negotiate at the lower end.
• Industrial and specialist day rate: £300–£600 per day for high-voltage work, industrial motor control, BMS integration, or other specialist electrical disciplines.
• Commercial project pricing: fixed price based on detailed design and specifications. Labour is often priced per containment metre, per distribution board, or per circuit for commercial fit-outs.
• Testing and inspection (commercial): EICRs for commercial properties are priced per circuit or per board, not per property. Typical pricing is £5–£15 per circuit tested with a minimum site fee.

Part P and Building Regulations

Part P of the Building Regulations applies to electrical work in dwellings. As a NICEIC or NAPIT registered electrician, you are a “competent person” and can self-certify most domestic electrical work without a Building Control application. Understanding what requires certification and what does not is important for both compliance and pricing:

• New circuits and consumer unit upgrades: require notification and certification under Part P. As a registered electrician, you self-certify and issue an Electrical Installation Certificate. Include the cost of your NICEIC/NAPIT notification fee in the project price.
• Minor works: adding a socket to an existing circuit, replacing a like-for-like consumer unit, or extending an existing lighting circuit in most locations is classified as minor works and is covered by a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate rather than a full EIC.
• Special locations (kitchens and bathrooms): any work in kitchens, bathrooms, or outdoors requires a full EIC regardless of scope. Zone requirements in bathrooms (BS 7671 Part 7) must be followed for any work in these areas.
• New builds and extensions: covered by Building Regulations Part P in England. The installation is typically signed off as part of the main Building Control approval for the project.

How Trade2Base Helps Electricians Quote and Run Their Business

Trade2Base gives electricians the tools to quote faster, collect payment more reliably, and manage compliance documentation without the admin overhead:

• Quote builder with electrical line items — pre-built line items for EICRs, consumer unit upgrades, EV chargers, and common electrical jobs. Set your standard rates once and build quotes in minutes.
• NICEIC cert storage per job — store Electrical Installation Certificates, Minor Works Certificates, and EICR reports against each customer and job. Share certificates directly through the customer portal when landlords or managing agents need copies.
• EV charger quote line items — pre-configured EV charger line items with OZEV grant notation, cable run pricing, and commissioning. Quote EV charger installs in minutes rather than building from scratch each time.
• Digital sign-off — customers approve quotes digitally. No printing, no paper to chase, no lost approvals. You are notified immediately when the quote is accepted.
• Stripe payments — collect deposits and final payments online. Particularly useful for larger jobs like consumer unit upgrades and EV charger installations where a deposit secures the booking.
• Campaign attribution — track which marketing channels generate your EICR landlord work, EV charger enquiries, and emergency call-outs separately. Allocate your marketing budget to the channels that actually deliver profitable jobs.