Electrical Testing and Inspection UK — EICR Costs, PAT Testing and What Electricians Should Charge in 2026

Types of Electrical Testing in the UK

There are four main categories of electrical testing work an electrician will encounter. Understanding the differences matters both for pricing and for explaining your service to clients.

• EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) — The most common testing product. A periodic inspection of an existing electrical installation to assess whether it is safe for continued use. Required by law for rental properties in England, Scotland and Wales. Also commonly required before commercial property sales, insurance renewals, and lease renewals.
• PAT Testing (Portable Appliance Testing) — The inspection and testing of portable electrical appliances. Covers Class I appliances (those with an earth connection, such as kettles and computers) and Class II appliances (double-insulated, such as most power tools and extension leads). Not individually mandated by statute in most commercial settings but strongly recommended by HSE guidance and required by the majority of commercial insurance policies.
• EIC (Electrical Installation Certificate) — Issued after new installation work or a significant alteration to an existing circuit. This is a certification document rather than a periodic inspection, but clients frequently ask electricians to quote "testing and certification" for new build or rewire projects in the same breath as inspection work. An EIC confirms the installation meets BS 7671.
• EV Charger Commissioning Testing — Required after installing an EV charge point. Involves insulation resistance testing, earth fault loop impedance testing, and functional testing of the EVSE unit. Typically included within the EV charger installation price but worth quoting as a line item for clients who have purchased chargers elsewhere or who need a commissioning certificate for a workplace charging scheme grant application.

What an EICR Actually Checks

Clients often ask what they're paying for. An EICR is a two-stage process: a visual inspection followed by instrument testing. Together these cover:

• Consumer unit (fuse board) — condition, labelling, presence of RCDs, type and rating of protective devices
• Circuits — continuity of protective conductors, insulation resistance, polarity
• Earthing and bonding — main earthing terminal, main and supplementary bonding conductors, earth electrode resistance where applicable
• Sockets and switches — condition, correct wiring, presence of appropriate protection
• RCDs (residual current devices) — operating time and tripping current tested with calibrated equipment
• Fixed equipment — cooker connections, shower units, immersion heaters, lighting circuits

Instrument testing requires a calibrated multifunction installation tester. The time taken depends almost entirely on the number of circuits — which is why experienced electricians quote per circuit, not per property.

EICR Codes: C1, C2, C3, and FI

The EICR outcome is determined by the worst observation code recorded. Understanding the codes is essential both for advising clients and for identifying upsell opportunities.

Any single C1 or C2 on the report, or an unresolved FI, results in an "Unsatisfactory" overall outcome. For landlords, an unsatisfactory EICR means they cannot legally re-let the property and must complete remedial works within 28 days.

EICR Pricing Guide 2026

The most reliable way to price an EICR is per circuit, with a base charge for the first eight circuits and an additional charge per circuit beyond that. This reflects the real cost driver — time on-site with a multifunction tester — and means your quote scales correctly whether you're in a one-bed flat or a four-bed Victorian terrace with a dozen circuits.

The per-circuit formula that underpins these prices: charge a flat rate of £150–£175 for the first eight circuits, then add £10–£20 for every additional circuit beyond that. A 12-circuit house at £160 base + (4 x £15) = £220 is a price that's defensible and scalable. Commercial work carries a premium over domestic because access is harder to coordinate, out-of-hours working is common, and three-phase installations require more test points.

Do not price EICRs at the rock-bottom end of the market to compete with unlicensed operators. An EICR is a legal document — clients who understand that pay for it accordingly. Letting agents who send you bulk volume deserve a modest discount (see below), but your domestic one-off price should reflect the skilled, time-intensive work involved.

Landlord Legal Requirements: England

The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, which came into force on 1 July 2020, impose the following obligations on private landlords in England:

• An EICR must be obtained before a new tenancy begins and every five years thereafter (or sooner if the report specifies a shorter interval).
• A copy of the current EICR must be provided to existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection and to new tenants before occupation.
• Where the EICR is unsatisfactory (C1, C2 or unresolved FI), the landlord must arrange and complete remedial works within 28 days of receiving the report (or sooner if the report specifies an earlier deadline for C1 observations).
• Written confirmation of completed remedials must be supplied to the local authority on request and to tenants within 28 days of completion.
• Local authorities can impose civil penalties of up to £30,000 for non-compliance.

The five-year interval is a maximum. The electrician conducting the EICR sets the recommended next inspection date on the report itself, based on their assessment of the installation's condition and age. An older property with ageing wiring might warrant a three-year recommendation, which creates a shorter re-booking cycle for your business.

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

Scotland introduced mandatory electrical safety inspection requirements for private rented housing earlier than England, under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 and subsequent regulations. Wales's Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (brought into force in December 2022) requires a periodic electrical installation inspection report every five years, aligned closely with the England position. Northern Ireland operates under different legislation and does not currently have the same mandatory EICR requirement for private landlords, though this is expected to change in line with the rest of the UK. In all four nations, electrical inspections for HMOs (Houses in Multiple Occupation) carry additional licensing obligations with shorter inspection intervals — typically every five years at most, often three.

PAT Testing: Pricing and Requirements

Portable Appliance Testing sits alongside EICR work in many electricians' service menus. The commercial model is different — PAT is priced per item, not per circuit — and the legal basis is different too.

PAT Testing Prices 2026

• Per-item rate: £1.00–£2.50 per appliance (volume-dependent)
• Minimum call-out charge: £50–£100 for small jobs (fewer than 30–40 items)
• Large commercial contracts (100+ items): £0.80–£1.50 per item

The per-item rate drops as volume increases. An office with 200 items at £1.20 each is a more attractive job than a small shop with 15 items at the minimum call-out — both are valid, but your pricing should reflect the efficiency difference.

What Gets PAT Tested

PAT testing applies to portable electrical equipment — anything with a plug that can be moved. This splits into two classes under BS EN 60335:

• Class I appliances (earthed equipment): desktop computers, electric kettles, floor-standing fans, photocopiers, refrigerators. These require an earth continuity test in addition to visual inspection and insulation resistance testing.
• Class II appliances (double-insulated, no earth): most power tools, some portable heaters, extension leads, laptop chargers. These require insulation resistance and flash testing but not earth continuity.

Is PAT Testing Legally Required?

PAT testing is not mandated by a single piece of legislation in the way that EICR is for rental properties. Instead, the obligation comes from multiple directions: the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 all require employers to maintain electrical equipment in a safe condition. HSE guidance makes clear that regular inspection and testing — including PAT — is an appropriate way to demonstrate compliance. Additionally, most commercial property and employers' liability insurance policies require evidence of PAT testing.

PAT Testing Frequency

The IET Code of Practice for In-Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment recommends a risk-based approach rather than fixed intervals. As a practical guide: office IT equipment (low-risk, static) every four years; office portable appliances every two years; equipment used in public-facing environments annually; construction site equipment every three months. Clients in construction and events should be your highest-frequency PAT customers.

EIC and MWC: Certifying New Work

An Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) is issued after new installation work — a full rewire, a new consumer unit, or a new circuit installation. It certifies that the work complies with BS 7671 and has been designed, installed, inspected, and tested by a qualified person. A Minor Works Certificate (MWC) covers additions or alterations to an existing circuit that do not involve a new circuit. Neither document is a periodic inspection product, but both are frequently quoted alongside EICR work when clients ask for "all the testing and paperwork." EIC and MWC certificates are typically included within the installation price rather than charged separately — the testing that underpins them is priced into the job. Where a client asks for an EIC on work done by another contractor, treat it as a standalone inspection job and price accordingly (£100–£200 depending on scope).

How to Price EICRs Competitively Without Undercharging

The most common mistake is pricing EICRs as loss leaders to get the remedial work. This strategy looks attractive in theory but collapses under scrutiny: the remedial work is not guaranteed, the EICR itself takes real time, and you train clients to expect low prices on all your work.

The right strategy is to price the EICR fairly and quote for remedials at the same time. When you find a C2 during the inspection, you already know the property, you know what the remedial involves, and you are standing in front of a landlord who has just been told their property is legally unsatisfactory. That is the best possible moment to hand over a remedial quote — not two days later when they've called three other electricians.

• Quote per circuit, not per property. It protects you from undercharging on larger properties and gives clients a transparent, logical basis for your price.
• Include a fixed travel charge for properties outside your core area. EICRs are time-efficient but not worth travelling 45 minutes each way for a 1-bed flat at £150.
• Add a report preparation fee of £15–£25 if your scheme requires certified documentation upload and review. Not all clients appreciate the administrative overhead of formal certification — itemising it makes it visible.
• Batch pricing for letting agents. Agents sending five or more properties at a time warrant a reduced per-property rate of £150–£175, booked in a dedicated run. You save on travel and scheduling; they get a reliable, compliant contractor. Everyone wins.

Building a Letting Agent Pipeline

Letting agents are the most efficient source of recurring EICR work. A mid-size agent managing 80 properties needs roughly 16 EICRs per year (assuming a five-year cycle spread evenly). Win three or four such agents and your testing diary is effectively full without any ongoing marketing effort.

The challenge is attribution: how do you know which agents are actually generating bookings, and which outreach efforts — direct mail, LinkedIn, cold calls, referrals from landlords — are driving those relationships? Without tracking, you're guessing at what's working.

One practical approach: use a different contact number for each letting agent relationship and for each marketing channel you use to reach agents. When an EICR booking comes in, the number dialled tells you exactly which agent or which campaign generated it. Over six months, you'll have hard data on which agents are most valuable and which outreach method fills your diary most cost-effectively.

This is exactly what Trade2Base is built for — assigning tracked phone numbers to each source so every EICR booking, PAT testing enquiry, and remedial call is attributed to the campaign or relationship that generated it.

Upselling from EICR: C2 Codes and Remedial Work

C2 codes are the most commercially significant finding on an EICR. They are common — particularly in pre-2000 properties without RCD protection and in properties with older split-load consumer units — and they create a legally mandated remedial obligation that the landlord cannot defer.

Common C2 observations and typical remedial prices:

• No RCD protection on socket circuits — consumer unit upgrade: £400–£700
• Inadequate main protective bonding — bonding upgrade: £80–£150
• Damaged or deteriorated wiring — localised rewire of affected circuit: £150–£350 per circuit
• No earth on lighting circuit — rewire of lighting circuit: £200–£400
• Overloaded socket outlets or multi-way adapters (if permanent) — additional socket installation: £80–£180 per double socket

The key discipline is quoting remedials on the same day as the inspection. Leave the property without doing so and you are competing in an open market. Do it while you're there, report in hand, and you are the informed expert with context and credibility. Conversion rates on same-day remedial quotes are significantly higher than follow-up quotes sent by email.

Scheduling EICRs Efficiently

EICR work is logistically demanding because you need access — which means coordinating with tenants, landlords, and agents across multiple diaries. A few principles that experienced testing electricians use to keep their schedule dense and profitable:

• Route cluster your bookings. Group EICRs in the same postcode area on the same day. The inspection itself may take 90 minutes; driving between properties should not take more than 15.
• Build letting agent runs. Agree a dedicated day or half-day with a letting agent to work through a batch of their properties. They handle access coordination with tenants; you show up and work through the list.
• Set reminder cadences for five-year renewals. If you issued an EICR in June 2021, that property needs a new one by June 2026. A simple calendar reminder or CRM follow-up sequence captures this repeat revenue without any additional marketing spend.
• Charge a cancellation or no-access fee. Arriving at a property to find the tenant has not been informed is a wasted journey. A £50 no-access charge, stated clearly in your terms, reduces the incidence significantly and compensates you when it does happen.