EICR cost UK: what you should expect to pay

What an EICR actually is

An Electrical Installation Condition Report is a periodic inspection and test of the fixed wiring in a property — the consumer unit, the circuits, the sockets, the switches, the earthing and bonding. It is not a look round with a screwdriver. The electrician takes the power off, physically inspects accessories and enclosures, then runs a series of instrument tests on every circuit: continuity of protective conductors, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop impedance and RCD operation.

The output is a report that records every circuit, the test results and any defects, each given a classification code. The report is then declared satisfactory or unsatisfactory. It is a snapshot of condition, not a warranty — and a satisfactory EICR does not mean nothing will ever go wrong, only that nothing dangerous was found on the day.

What drives the price up or down

Bedrooms are a rough proxy. The thing that actually sets the price is the number of circuits, because every circuit has to be individually tested and recorded. Total Skills states plainly that the number of circuits is the single biggest factor in EICR pricing (last reviewed April 2026, checked 6 September 2026). A three-bed house with a modern 10-way board and a three-bed house with two old boards and a garage supply are not the same job.

• Circuit count — a six-circuit flat versus a fourteen-circuit house is roughly double the testing time.
• Age and condition of the installation — rubber or lead-sheathed cable, no RCD protection, a rewireable fuse board: all slow the inspection and generate findings.
• Access — boarded lofts, fitted kitchens over accessories, furniture in front of every socket. Clear access genuinely saves you money.
• Records — if there is a previous EICR or an installation certificate with a circuit chart, the electrician is not working blind.
• Location — labour rates vary widely by region, and London and the South East sit at the top.
• Whether it is tenanted — arranging access with tenants, and working around them, adds time.

Be wary of the very cheapest quotes. A proper EICR on an average house is a two-to-three-hour job before the report is written up. Anyone offering it for £60 is either not doing the tests, sampling far less than they should, or expecting to make the money back on the remedial work they find. A well-known trick is a rock-bottom inspection price followed by a long list of C2 codes and an expensive quote to clear them.

The codes: what makes a report fail

This matters commercially as well as technically. A C2 forces remedial work; a C3 does not. If a report comes back with a long list of C2 codes for things that read like recommendations, it is entirely reasonable to ask the electrician to justify each one against the wiring regulations, or to get a second opinion. Equally, a report with genuine C1 or C2 findings is not the electrician being difficult — it is the report doing its job.

The rules if you let the property

For private rented homes in England, the EICR is not optional and the timescales are set in law. Under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, regulation 3 (checked on legislation.gov.uk, 6 September 2026), a landlord must:

• Have the fixed installation inspected and tested at intervals of no more than five years, or sooner if the last report says so.
• Supply a copy of the report to existing tenants within 28 days of the inspection.
• Supply a copy to the local housing authority within 7 days of a written request.
• Complete any remedial work the report requires within 28 days, or sooner if the report specifies a shorter period.

The penalty for getting it wrong is real: regulation 11(2)(b) caps a local housing authority financial penalty at £30,000 (legislation.gov.uk, checked 6 September 2026). GOV.UK's guidance page for the private and social rented sectors restates the five-year interval (page updated 1 November 2025, checked 6 September 2026).

If you own and live in your home there is no legal interval, but a periodic inspection is still how you find deterioration you cannot see. The report itself will state a recommended date for the next inspection, and that recommendation is the one to work to.

What a fair quote looks like

1. A fixed price for a named property, not a vague from-price. If the electrician has asked how many circuits you have, that is a good sign.
2. A statement of what is included — the inspection, the testing, the written report and, where the installation is large, an agreed level of sampling.
3. Remedial work quoted separately, after the report. Nobody can honestly quote to fix faults they have not found yet.
4. No obligation to use the same electrician for the remedials. You are free to get the fixes priced elsewhere.
5. Clarity on power interruption — the supply will be off for parts of the test, so agree the timing if you work from home or the property is tenanted.

Red flags

• A price so low it cannot cover two or three hours of skilled work plus the write-up.
• No inspection and test certificate details, or a report that arrives without the circuit-by-circuit test results filled in.
• A long list of C2 codes with no explanation of why each one is potentially dangerous rather than merely improvable.
• Pressure to authorise remedial work on the spot, before you have read the report.
• An electrician who cannot tell you which competent-person scheme they belong to, or whose registration you cannot verify.
• A report that arrives days late — for a landlord, the 28-day clock to give it to tenants runs from the inspection, not from when you receive it.

What should be on the paperwork

• The address, the date of inspection and the recommended date of the next one.
• The name, address and registration details of the person and business who carried it out.
• The extent of the installation covered and any agreed limitations or sampling.
• A schedule of inspections and a schedule of test results for every circuit — not a summary.
• Every observation with its classification code, described clearly enough that another electrician could find it.
• A clear overall assessment: satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

Keep it. A landlord must retain the report until the next inspection is due, and for an owner-occupier it is the document that tells the next electrician — or the next buyer — what state the installation is in.