Summary
Electricians have more reason than most trades to know their true hourly rate, because so much of the job is not billable in the way customers imagine. Every job ends with paperwork — a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate for a spur or a replaced consumer unit, an Electrical Installation Certificate with a full schedule of test results for a new circuit, a Part P notification through the scheme — and none of that is time the customer sees. Add the test instruments that have to be calibrated every year, the scheme assessment, the 18th Edition update course each time an amendment lands, and the van full of cable and accessories bought ahead of need, and an electrician charging £40 an hour is often earning less than the apprentice-trained employee on a site under the JIB rates.
The market is also split in a way that confuses customers. The employed, site-based electrician's pay is set by the JIB grading structure, which produces hourly figures well below what a self-employed domestic electrician must charge; a customer who has heard "electricians earn £20 an hour" has heard an employed rate without the employer's costs attached. The self-employed domestic rate has to include everything the employer would otherwise pay — van, insurance, tools, training, holidays, pension, sick pay, dead time — and then the registration costs unique to the trade.
This guide builds the hourly rate from real costs, shows the regional market figures for 2026, explains how to structure call-outs, minimum charges and fixed prices so that short jobs and paperwork are paid for, and gives benchmark fixed prices for the common domestic jobs so you can sanity-check your own. For the method across all trades see pricing labour; for the conversion logic see day rate to hourly rate calculator; for employed-rate context see jib grading explained.
Key Facts
- Hourly rate, 2026 — £45–£75 outside London and the South East; £55–£90 in the South East; £65–£110 in London. The top of each range is for registered electricians with strong local demand, specialist work (EV, solar, EICR for landlords) or emergency response
- Day rate — £260–£380 regionally, £320–£430 South East, £350–£500 London; consistent with the £200–£280 / £280–£450 ranges recorded in 2024 plus two years of cost inflation
- Call-out / first hour — £80–£150 covering travel, the first hour on site and the diagnosis; the hourly rate applies after that. Never quote an hourly rate with no minimum
- Billable hours per day — 6.5–7 once travel, loading, certificate writing and merchant visits are allowed for; divide the day rate by this, not by 8
- Billable days per year — 200–215 for a sole trader after holidays, training, scheme assessment, quoting and sickness
- Scheme registration — NICEIC Domestic Installer, NAPIT, or another UKAS-accredited competent person scheme: £500–£800 a year including the annual assessment visit; required to self-certify notifiable work under Part P without a Building Control application (£250–£500 per job otherwise)
- Test instruments — multifunction tester £700–£1,500, calibration £80–£150 a year; voltage indicator and proving unit to HSE GS38; these are a cost of every job, not an overhead to apologise for
- BS 7671 — the current edition of the IET Wiring Regulations and the On-Site Guide, replaced or amended every two to three years at £100–£200 a time, plus the update course
- Insurance — public liability £2 million minimum, £5 million commonly required for landlord, letting-agent and commercial work; professional indemnity is required by most schemes for inspection and testing work. Budget £400–£900 a year
- Certificates and notification — allow 30–60 minutes of unpaid time per job for a MEIWC or EIC and the Part P notification; it belongs in the rate
- Materials markup — 15–25% on trade cost; accessories, cable and consumer units are priced per item on the quote, cable by the metre
- Emergency and out-of-hours — 30–75% uplift on the hourly rate plus a higher call-out (£120–£220) for evenings, weekends and bank holidays; see emergency callout pricing guide
- EICR — £150–£300 for a 1–3 bed property, £250–£450 for 4+ bed; mandatory for private rented homes in England under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, every 5 years. See eicr pricing guide
- Consumer unit replacement — £450–£900 fitted for a standard 10–12 way RCBO board including the EIC and notification; see consumer unit replacement pricing guide
- Full rewire — £3,500–£6,000 for a 2-bed, £5,000–£9,000 for a 3-bed semi, more in London; see full rewire pricing guide
- VAT — compulsory registration above £90,000 taxable turnover in a rolling 12 months; domestic customers cannot reclaim it, so an unregistered electrician at £60 is cheaper to them than a registered one at £55
- Consumer Rights Act 2015 — a reasonable price is owed where none was agreed; written hourly rate, call-out and estimated hours protect both sides
- Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 — the legal duty of competence and safe working underpinning everything you charge for; the HSE GS38 guidance on test equipment is the practical standard
Quick Reference Table
Spending too long on quotes? squote turns a 2-minute voice recording into a professional quote.
Try squote free →| Charge | Regional (outside London/SE) | South East | London | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly rate (after first hour) | £45–£75 | £55–£90 | £65–£110 | Registered, insured, self-employed |
| Call-out / first hour (daytime) | £80–£150 | £100–£170 | £120–£200 | Includes travel and diagnosis |
| Emergency call-out (evening/weekend) | £120–£220 | £150–£260 | £180–£320 | Plus hourly at 30–75% uplift |
| Day rate | £260–£380 | £320–£430 | £350–£500 | 6.5–7 billable hours |
| Half-day minimum | £150–£220 | £180–£260 | £220–£300 | Small installs that cannot share a day |
| Additional socket on existing ring (surface or chased) | £90–£180 | £120–£220 | £150–£280 | Non-notifiable outside bathrooms |
| Replace light fitting (customer-supplied) | £50–£100 | £70–£120 | £90–£150 | Within the first hour |
| EICR 1–3 bed | £150–£300 | £180–£350 | £220–£400 | Includes report; remedials separate |
| Consumer unit replacement, 10–12 way RCBO | £450–£900 | £550–£1,000 | £650–£1,200 | Includes EIC and notification |
| New dedicated circuit (cooker, shower, EV) | £250–£500 | £300–£600 | £350–£700 | Plus accessory; notifiable |
| Outside light with PIR, new wiring | £150–£300 | £180–£350 | £220–£400 | Plus fitting |
Detailed Guidance
Building the hourly rate from your costs
Work forwards from costs, not backwards from what a competitor charges. A sole-trader domestic electrician outside London:
| Item | Annual figure |
|---|---|
| Target income before tax | £42,000 |
| Van: finance or depreciation, insurance, tax, servicing, work fuel | £7,000 |
| Scheme registration and assessment | £650 |
| Public liability (£5m) and professional indemnity | £650 |
| Test instrument calibration, replacement fund, GS38 leads and proving unit | £450 |
| BS 7671 amendment, On-Site Guide, update course (averaged) | £250 |
| Tools, drills, consumables not chargeable | £1,400 |
| Phone, software, website, advertising | £1,200 |
| Accountant | £800 |
| Pension | £3,000 |
| Total required | £57,400 |
Over 205 billable days that is £280 a day. At 6.75 billable hours it is £41.50 an hour just to break even on the target income — so a charged rate of £55–£60 an hour is not expensive; it is the rate that leaves a margin for the quiet February, the van that fails its MOT and the job that takes an hour longer than quoted. An electrician charging £40 an hour on these costs is working for about £35,000 a year with no holiday pay.
Why electricians need a call-out charge more than most
A high proportion of domestic electrical jobs are short: a tripping circuit, a dead socket, a light that will not switch. The travel, the safe isolation, the testing and the certificate are the same whether the fix takes ten minutes or an hour. An hourly rate with no minimum turns a half-day of your time (two short jobs, each with travel and paperwork) into two hours of billing. The first-hour charge of £80–£150 covers the fixed cost of attending and the diagnosis; it should be stated when the job is booked, not announced on the doorstep. Where the diagnosis leads to a bigger job, many electricians credit part of the call-out against the quoted fixed price, which customers understand and which keeps the conversion rate up.
Fixed price versus hourly
Sell fixed prices for anything with a defined scope: additional sockets, light fittings, consumer unit changes, new circuits, EICRs, rewires. The customer gets certainty, you are paid for working efficiently, and you avoid the "why did that take so long" conversation. Build the fixed price from your hourly rate, an honest time estimate, materials at cost plus markup, and the paperwork time.
Charge hourly, with the call-out, for fault-finding, for work alongside other trades on a refurbishment where you cannot control the sequence, and for "while you're here" additions. Set an expectation in the quote: "Fault-finding is charged at £X for the first hour and £Y per hour thereafter; most faults are located within two hours; I will stop and confirm with you before exceeding three."
Paperwork is billable time
An Electrical Installation Certificate with a full schedule of inspections and test results takes 30–60 minutes to complete properly. A Minor Works certificate takes 15–20 minutes. The Part P notification through the scheme takes 10 minutes and carries a small per-notification fee. An EICR for a 3-bed house is two to three hours on site and another hour writing up observations with the correct C1/C2/C3/FI codes. Price the time. Customers who are told "the price includes testing, certification and the Building Regulations notification you will need when you sell the house" see the certificate as part of what they bought, which it is.
Notifiable work and what it does to the price
In England and Wales, installing a new circuit, replacing a consumer unit, and any addition or alteration to a circuit in a room containing a bath or shower are notifiable under Part P. A scheme-registered electrician self-certifies for a few pounds per notification; an unregistered one must apply to Building Control before starting, at £250–£500 per job and with an inspection visit. That difference is one of the things the registered electrician's rate pays for, and it is worth saying so: "I am registered, so the £X includes the Building Regulations certificate; an unregistered quote at a lower price leaves you with no certificate and a problem at sale." See part p notifiable work and part p notifications.
Benchmark fixed prices for common jobs
Use these to sanity-check your own quotes, not as a rate card. All include labour, testing and certification but exclude VAT and, where stated, the fitting or accessory.
- Additional double socket from an existing ring, surface clipped or chased and made good (no decoration): £90–£180. 1–2 hours plus a Minor Works certificate.
- Replace an existing light fitting with a customer-supplied fitting: £50–£100. Within the call-out hour; add for high ceilings or where the existing wiring needs a new connection box.
- New dedicated circuit for a cooker, electric shower or EV charger from an existing consumer unit with a spare way: £250–£500 plus the accessory or charger. Half a day plus EIC and notification. See ev charger installation pricing guide.
- Consumer unit replacement, 10–12 way with RCBOs and SPD, including isolation with the DNO's fused cut-out where required, full testing, EIC and notification: £450–£900. A full day. See consumer unit replacement pricing guide.
- EICR, 1–3 bed: £150–£300; remedial works quoted separately. See eicr pricing guide.
- Outside light with PIR sensor on new wiring from an existing circuit: £150–£300 plus the fitting.
- Full rewire, 3-bed semi, including first and second fix, new consumer unit, testing and certification, excluding plastering and decoration: £5,000–£9,000. 5–8 days with two people. See full rewire pricing guide.
Employed rates and why they are not your benchmark
The JIB (Joint Industry Board) national agreement sets hourly rates for employed electricians by grade — apprentice, electrician, approved electrician, technician — and those figures are what a customer has in mind when they say an electrician "earns" £20-something an hour. They are wages, paid with holidays, pension, sick pay, a van, tools, training and insurance on top, to someone who does not have to find the work or write the certificates in their own time. A self-employed rate that merely matched the JIB hourly figure would be a pay cut of roughly half. See jib grading explained for the grades, and use them only when pricing labour you employ, where JIB rate plus 25–35% employer costs is the figure to recover from the customer.
Raising the rate
Review every January against the previous year's costs and diary. Fully booked more than four to six weeks ahead for most of the year means the rate is too low. Raise for new enquiries, honour existing quotes, and give repeat landlords and agents a month's notice; most accept an increase presented with a reason (calibration, scheme fees, materials). See price increase.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average electrician hourly rate in the UK in 2026?
Around £50–£65 an hour for a registered self-employed electrician outside London, with a first-hour or call-out charge of £80–£150, and £65–£110 in London. The headline figure is less important than what it includes: a registered electrician's rate carries the scheme registration that lets them self-certify notifiable work, calibrated test equipment, insurance and the time to produce certificates. Unregistered electricians advertising £35–£40 an hour are not offering the same product.
Should I charge hourly or a fixed price?
Fixed price for defined work — sockets, fittings, circuits, consumer units, EICRs, rewires — because it gives the customer certainty and pays you for being efficient. Hourly, with a call-out, for fault-finding and for working alongside other trades where you cannot control the sequence. Both are built from the same hourly rate, so know that number first.
How do I justify a call-out charge for a ten-minute fix?
Explain what it covers: travelling to them, carrying the test equipment and the stock that let the fix happen in ten minutes, safe isolation and testing, and a certificate where one is needed. A tripped RCD traced to a faulty appliance in ten minutes is the result of experience, not luck, and the customer is paying for the diagnosis, not the duration. State the charge when booking so it is never a surprise.
Do I have to be registered with a scheme to work as an electrician?
Not to carry out electrical work in general, but without competent person scheme registration you cannot self-certify notifiable work under Part P, which means a Building Control application and fee for every new circuit, consumer unit and bathroom alteration. In practice, domestic electricians need registration to compete, and letting agents and landlords will not instruct an unregistered electrician for EICRs. Scheme registration also requires evidence of qualifications, insurance and calibrated instruments, which is why it belongs in the rate.
What should I charge for an EICR?
£150–£300 for a one to three bedroom property, £250–£450 for larger homes, and more for properties with many circuits or poor access. The report is two to three hours on site for a typical three-bed plus an hour of write-up, so it should never be a loss-leader; remedial works are quoted separately once the observations are coded. Landlords in England must have one every five years under the 2020 Regulations, so it is repeat business worth pricing properly. See eicr pricing guide.
Regulations & Standards
BS 7671:2018+A2:2022 — Requirements for Electrical Installations (IET Wiring Regulations, 18th Edition): the standard all work must meet, including Part 6 inspection and testing and the model certificate forms in Appendix 6
Building Regulations 2010, Part P and Approved Document P (2013 edition) — electrical safety in dwellings; defines notifiable work and the self-certification route via competent person schemes (England and Wales)
Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 — duties on those carrying out electrical work to be competent and to work safely; the legal basis for safe isolation
HSE Guidance Note GS38 (4th edition) — electrical test equipment for use on low-voltage electrical systems: probes, leads and proving units
Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 — mandatory EICR at least every five years for private rented homes in England
Consumer Rights Act 2015 — reasonable price and reasonable care and skill where no price is agreed in advance
Value Added Tax Act 1994 and current threshold — compulsory VAT registration above £90,000 taxable turnover in any rolling 12 months
Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 — applies to domestic electrical work; contractor duties where there is a domestic client
IET Guidance Note 3: Inspection and Testing — the practical basis for EICR coding and certificate completion
GOV.UK — Approved Document P: Electrical safety in dwellings — notifiable work and competent person schemes
GOV.UK — Electrical safety standards in the private rented sector: guidance for landlords — EICR duties
HSE — GS38 Electrical test equipment for use on low voltage electrical systems — test equipment requirements
IET — BS 7671 Wiring Regulations — current edition and amendments
NICEIC — Becoming registered — scheme registration requirements and costs
JIB — Joint Industry Board national working rules — employed electrician grading and rates
pricing labour — UK day rates by trade and region, the baseline this guide refines for electricians
day rate to hourly rate calculator — converting a day rate to a true hourly rate and setting a minimum charge
jib grading explained — employed electrician grades and why their rates are not a self-employed benchmark
part p notifiable work — exactly which jobs are notifiable and how self-certification works
emergency callout pricing guide — structuring out-of-hours and emergency charges
eicr pricing guide — pricing inspection and testing for landlords and homebuyers
consumer unit replacement pricing guide — the most common fixed-price domestic job
handyman hourly rate pricing guide — where non-notifiable minor electrical work ends and electrician's work begins