Fuse Board Upgrades
A modern, non-combustible consumer unit with every circuit protected and labelled, certificated in full and notified through our registration.
Installation Certificates Explained
Change a fuse board, add a circuit, rewire a property or work in a bathroom, and the job is not finished when the tools go away; it is finished when the certificate is issued. Here is which certificate you get for which work, and why the paperwork is worth as much as the wiring.
Get your certificate issuedThe Certificate Comes With the Work
Every piece of new electrical installation work is inspected and tested to BS 7671 before it is put into service, and the certificate is issued on completion. It is not an optional extra, and we issue it as part of the job, not as something you have to ask for. Which certificate you receive depends on the scope of the work.
An Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) covers the bigger jobs: a new installation, a rewire, a consumer unit change, or any work that creates a new circuit. A Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate covers additions and alterations to an existing circuit (an extra socket, a new light point) where no new circuit is involved.
Both come with the measured test results behind them. That is what separates a certificate from an invoice: it is a signed declaration that the work was designed, built, inspected and tested to the standard, with the readings recorded to prove it.
When We Issue an Installation Certificate
A full Electrical Installation Certificate: the bigger jobs
- Changing the fuse board: replacing a consumer unit is certificated in full, because every circuit in the property now depends on the new board's protection
- A full or partial rewire: new cabling through some or all of the property, tested circuit by circuit before it is energised
- Any new circuit: an electric shower, a cooker circuit, a dedicated EV charge point supply, or a feed to a garden office or outbuilding
- A new installation: a new build, conversion or first-time supply, certificated from the origin onwards
- Extensions and loft conversions: certificated with an EIC where new circuits are installed; where existing circuits are simply extended into the new rooms, Minor Works certificates cover it
- Larger remedial packages: where clearing an EICR's observations grows into board or circuit work, the remedial job itself is certificated with an EIC; see remedial works
A Minor Works Certificate: additions to what is already there
- An extra socket or fused spur added to an existing circuit
- A new light point or switch on an existing lighting circuit
- Moving accessories: relocating a socket or switch during decorating or a kitchen refit
- Alterations during remedial work: changes made to an existing circuit while clearing an EICR observation, recorded with the test results for that circuit
The dividing line is the new circuit: create one, or replace the consumer unit itself, and the work gets the full certificate. Extend or alter what already exists (even where the work is done at the board, such as changing a protective device), and the Minor Works Certificate covers it, with test results either way. If you are unsure which your job needs, ask; the answer costs nothing and the certificate is included in the price we quote.
Special Locations, and Telling Building Control
Some electrical work in homes is notifiable under the Building Regulations in England: Part P. In broad terms that means a new circuit, a consumer unit replacement, or additions and alterations to existing circuits in a special location. In England that does not mean the whole bathroom: it is the space around the bath or shower itself (within 0.6 m of the edge of the bath tub or shower tray, or 1.2 m of the shower head where there is no tray, up to 2.25 m above floor level), together with any room containing a swimming pool or a sauna heater. These are the places where the consequences of getting it wrong are highest, so the law wants a record that the work was done by someone competent.
Because we are Part P registered, we self-certify notifiable work through our scheme registration. We lodge the notification for you, our certification scheme informs the local authority, and a Building Regulations compliance certificate is issued to you, normally within 30 days of completion, in addition to the electrical certificate we hand over. No separate application to building control is needed for the electrical work; keep both documents, and tell us if the compliance certificate does not arrive.
That matters more than it sounds: uncertificated notifiable work surfaces at the worst possible moment, usually in a solicitor's enquiries when you sell. Two pieces of paper now save a retrospective headache later.
Had work done with no paperwork?
Tell us what was carried out and we will tell you straight which certificate should have been issued, and what can be done about it now.
What Is Actually on the Certificate
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What was done, and to what
The property, the extent of the work, and exactly which circuits were installed or altered, so there is never an argument later about what the certificate covers.
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The signed declarations
Signatures for the design, the construction, and the inspection and testing of the work: a named, qualified person standing behind each stage.
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The supply and earthing details
The earthing arrangement, the protective devices and their ratings: the context the next electrician needs before touching anything.
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The measured test results
The certificate must be accompanied by its schedules of inspection and test results: continuity, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop impedance, prospective fault current and RCD operation for the circuits worked on. Without those schedules it is not valid.
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The next inspection recommendation
When the installation should next be looked at, which is where the EICR cycle picks up.
Missing paperwork for old work?
A certificate can only be issued by the people who did the work, at the time; nobody can certificate someone else's old installation after the fact. An EICR is the way to establish that the installation is safe today. One caveat for sellers: an EICR is not Building Regulations paperwork. If old notifiable work was never notified, that gap is a matter for your solicitor, who may suggest a regularisation application or indemnity cover.
The Work That Comes With One
Rewiring
Full and partial rewires, tested circuit by circuit before energising and handed over with the EIC and its schedules of test results.
Remedial Works
Clearing an unsatisfactory EICR ends with certification for the work: the paper trail that gets a landlord's report accepted.
Which certificate does your job need?
A new circuit or a consumer unit change takes the full EIC; anything altering an existing circuit takes Minor Works. Ask before you book.
Good to Know
- The certificate is included: it is part of the job we quote, never an extra line on the invoice
- Keep every certificate with the property: solicitors ask for them when you sell, insurers ask after a claim, and the next electrician works faster and cheaper with them in hand
- Like-for-like repairs: straightforward maintenance, such as swapping a damaged socket front for the same type, does not normally need a certificate, though we will always tell you when it does
- Certificates describe the work done, not the whole house, though for additions and alterations, any defects noticed in the existing installation are recorded on it; a full picture of the whole installation's condition is the job of an EICR
- These notification rules are England's: Wales keeps the older, wider rules, and Scotland and Northern Ireland have different systems entirely; the BS 7671 certificates themselves are the same across the UK
General guidance only, not legal advice. Confirm your own duties with your local authority.
Planning a board change, a rewire or a new circuit, or been asked for a certificate you do not have? Tell us what the job is and we will tell you exactly which paperwork it comes with.
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