While – let’s be honest – a boring piece of life admin for many, arranging for an electrician to complete an EICR isn’t to be scoffed at. As a certified electrician, I can tell you that putting off the task isn’t worth it, especially when you weigh up the legal and health & safety implications. But the million-dollar question: how much does an EICR cost in 2026?
From average prices to rogue trader red flags, I’m using my 14 years in the game to make sure landlords and homeowners know exactly what to expect from their electrical safety check quotes.
Skip to:
- EICR Certificate Cost at a Glance
- What is Included in the Cost of the EICR Certificate?
- Factors Impacting the Price
- Landlord vs Homeowner Electrical Safety Certificate Cost
- How Much is ‘Too Good to Be True’? Protecting Yourself from Rogue Traders
- Can You Conduct Electrical Safety Checks DIY?
- The Bottom Line on the Cost of an EICR Certificate
EICR Certificate Cost at a Glance
While there’s not a one-size-fits-all cost for getting your electrical safety checks done and verified with an EICR, there’s an agreed-upon range in the industry that signals due diligence and a quality job.
- Average EICR certificate cost: £200 + VAT per test
- Standard pricing for commercial properties: £30-50 per circuit
- Unrealistic prices to avoid: £150< per test or <£350-400 per test for a standard home
Note that there is a cocktail of factors that might increase the price, but let’s put a pin in that for now.
What is Included in the Cost of the EICR Certificate?
In a nutshell, an EICR or Electrical Installation Condition Report is designed to let the owner of a property know whether there are any hazards within its electrical system and the sort of remedial action required, from a complete house rewire to smaller safety upgrades and installations.
Typically, it looks like the following steps:
- A chat with the electrician about the age of your home and any issues you may have experienced to set the groundwork.
- Some preliminary visual assessments to establish whether there is any structural damage, immediate issues with wiring, switches and sockets, and more general wear and tear like corrosion or age.
- Circuit testing, including live and dead tests, to check the integrity of the wiring and see how the system responds under fault conditions. These problems will be communicated to the owner via a series of standardised classification codes.
- Logging the information and sharing the outcome with the owner in the final certificate. We use Napit Fast Test here, but many other software programs for this exist.
It’s also important to understand that, like an MOT, the cost of an EICR certificate doesn’t include the work to fix these issues or any essential wiring. Under NICEIC best practices, an electrician will provide you with detailed information about the hazards, suggested remedial action and how long particular installations are expected to last – not just a ‘poor’ or ‘adequate’ score. This will allow you to approach any extra work fully informed.
To give you a better idea of what the process is like in practice, check out our vlog from last year, when we completed a comprehensive EICR for a local business right in the heart of York.
Factors Impacting the Price
As I mentioned earlier, although £200 + VAT is the typical price for an EICR, you should expect some variation along with a handful of factors.
- The size of your property and, thus, the size of your electrical system
- The complexity of the circuits
- How long the test takes to complete (if numerous, fiddly issues crop up, that’s extra labour to account for)
- Your location and the knock-on effect on local hourly rates for electricians
- The sparky’s level of qualifications
Landlord vs Homeowner Electrical Safety Certificate Cost
Another thing to note is that you might find some difference in price between rental and residential properties.
Typically, landlord electrical safety certificates cost somewhere between £30 and £50 per circuit, since they can offer bulk jobs to local electricians. For instance, at Finney Electrical, we often work with estate agents on behalf of property owners with large portfolios – it keeps us busy and allows us to quote competitive prices.
How Much is ‘Too Good to Be True’? Protecting Yourself from Unscrupulous Traders
If you’ve read other price guides, you may have noticed some of them say that EICRs start at £100. The reason I haven’t mentioned it until now is because, usually, this is a red flag and too good to be true.
It’s not uncommon to see companies quoting much lower than the average – around the £100-150 mark – but resist the temptation to call them up; often these price tags belong to rogue traders who are looking to exploit optimistic or even vulnerable clients.
The EICR might seem cheap on the surface, but the dodgy electrician will often make up defects, neglect or even falsify the report, and make you pay through the nose for remedial work after flying through the tests at an unbelievable rate.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to protect yourself.
Ask for Proof of Accreditation
A legit electrician will be NICEIC accredited at the approved contractor level, or approved by another electrical regulatory body of a similar standard. For example, we’re certified by NAPIT, City & Guild, Passivhaus and ERFIT.
Make Sure They Spend Long Enough on the EICR
If they rush the job, it’s likely what you’re getting is a ‘drive-by’ EICR. Usually, it should take 2-3 hours per test, give or take. Anything less should ring alarm bells.
Calculate the Price Against the Allotted Time
If you’re uncertain about a quote, one way to rule out suspicious sparkies is to weigh up the price they quote against the time they expect to take. A good rule of thumb is £40-50 per hour spent in the property.
Check Their Reviews
Last but not least, pour over the reviews of the company, both recent customer experiences and older ones. They’ll help you understand what to expect or avoid a dodgy job.
What About Conducting the Checks DIY?
This is something that I’m sure crosses the mind of many nifty landlords, business owners and first-time buyers, but the truth is no.
Electrical inspection safety checks can only be conducted by a certified professional as per the government regulations. Of course, you can spot visual issues, but it’s never a good idea to go poking about in your electricals if you don’t have the experience or the know-how.
That’s what honest, trained electricians like us are for!
How Much Will it be to Fix Any Issues?
Honestly? It depends on the extent of the problem and the type of fix required. For example, completely rewiring a house will be much more costly than an isolated issue in only a small section of the circuit.
The Bottom Line on the Cost of an EICR Certificate
To protect your peace and receive the service you deserve, it’s essential to know what to expect well before the sparky rocks up at your door. Reputable traders will charge somewhere around the £200-300 mark + VAT per test, with anything above and below getting a raised eyebrow from me.
Of course, be prepared for an increased charge for older properties, larger homes and complex electrical circuits; double-check the service provider has positive reviews and the right accreditation; and make sure you get those EICRs renewed before your 5-10-year deadline arrives. Ticked off all of the above? Then you’re good to go!
Still haven’t sorted your overdue EICR? Then get in touch with me or another member of the Finney Electrical team – we’re fully accredited and provide a stellar service right from the first phone call to cleaning up after ourselves.
