What to charge / Electricians · Checked 29 September 2026
Electrician rates and charges in the UK and London for 2026
Electricians in the UK charge £40 to £70 an hour and £300 to £500 a day, according to Checkatrade’s April 2026 table. Jobs booked through Taskrabbit average £40 an hour across the UK and £62 in London, and HaMuch’s averages are £34 nationally and £48 in London. Some electricians set a minimum charge for the first hour: Checkatrade’s London example is £100 for the first hour and £45 an hour after that. Emergency work starts at about £80 an hour. Below are job prices from a Which? survey, what NICEIC certification costs, the JIB wage rates if you take on staff, and a calculator for your own rate.
Rates
Typical electrician rates in the UK
| Rate | Typical range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| An hour, Checkatrade 2026 | £40 to £70 [1] | Standard rate from its April 2026 table. It does not say whether VAT is included. |
| A day, Checkatrade 2026 | £300 to £500 [1] | Same table. |
| An hour, Taskrabbit average | £40 [2] | From electrical jobs booked through its platform, updated September 2026. |
| An hour for emergency work | £80 to £150 [3][4] | Evenings, nights, weekends and holidays. Checkatrade gives £80 to £100. HaMuch says from about £80 and up to £150, with a £90 average. |
| An hour, HaMuch average | £34 [4] | £23 to £49 depending on area, not including materials. |
| A day, HaMuch average | £237 [4] | From £179 to £307. |
| An hour, Checkatrade’s older rate guide | £45 to £60 [3] | Figures from 2024 and 2025: an average of £50 an hour, or £400 for an 8-hour day. |
Where you work changes the rate
- London, Taskrabbit: £62 an hour on average, with an average invoice of £120. [2]
- London, Checkatrade: around £50 to £60 an hour. Some London electricians set a minimum charge, for example £100 for the first hour and £45 an hour after that. [3]
- London against the North East, HaMuch: £48 an hour in London, against £33 in Redcar and Cleveland. [4]
- Glasgow and Edinburgh, Taskrabbit: £52 and £38 an hour, with average invoices of £105 and £85. [2]
- Milton Keynes, Bristol and Reading, Taskrabbit: £46, £44 and £44 an hour. Average invoices are £113, £79 and £84. [2]
- Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, Taskrabbit: £39, £38 and £35 an hour. Average invoices are £87, £120 and £92. [2]
- London and the South East, Which?: prices tend to sit at the upper end of its job ranges. [5]
Job prices
What common electrician jobs cost
What customers are typically quoted, from published UK price guides. Use them as a check on your own quotes, not a fixed price list.
| Job | Typical price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Replace a socket or switch | £50 to £120 [2] | Taskrabbit. VAT not stated |
| Fit a dimmer switch | £30 to £100 [5] | 30 minutes to an hour. Labour and materials, excluding VAT |
| Replace a light fitting | £50 to £200 [5] | 30 minutes to an hour. Customer supplies the fitting. Excluding VAT |
| Fit LED downlights | £55 to £80 each [5] | Labour and materials, excluding VAT |
| Add two double sockets | £125 to £450 [5] | 2 to 4 hours. Supply and fit, excluding VAT |
| Fit an outdoor socket | £100 to £500 [5] | 1 to 3 hours. Labour and materials, excluding VAT |
| Fit an external security light | £150 to £650 [5] | Supply and fit, excluding VAT |
| Replace an 8.5kW electric shower like for like | £300 to £600 [5] | Half a day to a day. Supply and fit, excluding VAT |
| Electrical inspection report (EICR), 3-bed semi | £100 to £330 [5] | 4 to 8 hours, excluding VAT |
| Replace a fuse box, 3-bed semi (Which?) | £500 to £1,500 [5] | Half a day to a day. Supply and fit, excluding VAT |
| Replace a consumer unit (Checkatrade and Taskrabbit) | about £485 [6][2] | Checkatrade: a 10-way RCBO unit fitted, from £350 in smaller homes to £800 in larger ones (table dated December 2024). Taskrabbit: £400 to £900 |
| Fit an EV charging point | £500 to £1,200 [2] | Taskrabbit. VAT not stated |
| Full rewire, 2-bed terrace | £3,000 to £12,000 [5] | 5 to 8 days. Labour and materials, excluding VAT |
| Full rewire, 3-bed semi | £4,000 to £18,000 [5] | 6 to 10 days. Labour and materials, excluding VAT |
Which? asked 19 of its Trusted Traders for these prices in November 2025. They exclude VAT. Taskrabbit does not say whether its prices include VAT.
Your numbers
Work out your own hourly rate
Start from what you want to earn, add what the business costs to run, and divide by the hours you can actually charge for. Travel, quoting, paperwork and chasing payments are not chargeable hours, so be honest about them.
The starting numbers are examples, not a recommendation. Change them to match your year. The result is before income tax and National Insurance, and before VAT if you are registered.
Before you set a price
Costs your rate has to cover
- NICEIC Domestic Installer scheme: £695 plus VAT (£834 with VAT) for the first year: a £95 application fee and £600 for 12 months’ certification. From the second year it is £595 plus VAT (£714), or £575 (£690) if paid by a single direct debit. [7]
- Extra NICEIC assessments: £430 plus VAT (£516) each, if a site visit or another qualified supervisor needs assessing. [7]
- Public liability cover: NICEIC asks for at least £2 million in your registered trading name. [7]
- NAPIT, if you use it instead: its January 2025 form lists a £156 deposit and a £570 balance, including VAT, with at least £2 million public liability and £250,000 professional indemnity cover. Check NAPIT for current fees. [8]
- VAT: HMRC requires you to register when taxable turnover over the last 12 months goes above £90,000. The standard rate is 20%. [9][10]
What the job pays elsewhere
- JIB rates from 5 January 2026: an employed Electrician earns £18.38 an hour with transport provided (£19.54 using their own), an Approved Electrician £20.08 (£21.19) and a Site or Installation Technician £22.70 (£23.87). [11]
- JIB rate from 4 January 2027: already agreed at £19.23 an hour for an Electrician with transport provided. [11]
- Employed electrician pay: between £26,000 as a starter and £45,000 when experienced, based on National Careers Service figures. [12]
Pricing well
How to price your work as a electrician
Put certification and notification in the price
Notifiable work such as a new circuit or a consumer unit change needs testing, a certificate and notification through your competent person scheme. That is real time at the desk, and your scheme membership costs hundreds of pounds a year. Include it in the quote as a line, not as an afterthought on the invoice.
Price EICRs by the size of the property
Which? puts an EICR on a 3-bed semi at £100 to £330 and 4 to 8 hours. A flat fee that ignores the number of circuits will lose you money on bigger houses. Quote by bedrooms or circuits, and price any remedial work separately once the report is done, so landlords know what the inspection costs on its own.
Set a minimum charge for small jobs
Swapping a light fitting takes 30 minutes, but the travel, parking and testing do not shrink with it. A first-hour minimum, such as the £100 first hour and £45 after that quoted for some London electricians, stops small jobs costing you money.
Keep emergency rates separate and clear
Emergency rates of £80 to £150 an hour are normal for evenings, nights and weekends. Decide what counts as an emergency, what time your normal day ends, and tell customers the rate before you set off. If you would rather not pick up every late call yourself, having calls answered out of hours means the details are taken and only real emergencies reach you.
Survey before you quote a rewire or fuse box
Which? puts a rewire on a 2-bed terrace anywhere from £3,000 to £12,000, and a fuse box from £500 to £1,500. That spread is about access, the state of the wiring and what the customer expects afterwards. Visit, test, and say in writing whether plastering and redecorating are included.
Show VAT and materials clearly
The Which? prices exclude VAT, and so do many online quotes. If you are VAT registered, say whether your figure includes it. Customers comparing your price with an unregistered electrician will otherwise think you are 20% dearer for the same work.
The work you never get to quote for
A good rate only helps if the customer reaches you. Most callers who hit voicemail ring the next name on the list. If you miss three calls a week and two in five would have become a £300 job, that is about £1,559 of work a month going to someone else. See what a missed call costs, or how While You Work answers calls for electricians while you are on a job.
Questions
What electricians ask about pricing
How much do electricians charge per hour in the UK?
Checkatrade’s April 2026 table gives £40 to £70 an hour. Taskrabbit’s average from booked jobs is £40, and HaMuch’s is £34, not including materials. In London, Taskrabbit’s average is £62.
How much do electricians charge in London?
Taskrabbit’s average from jobs booked in London is £62 an hour, with an average invoice of £120. Checkatrade puts London at around £50 to £60 an hour, and HaMuch’s London average is £48 an hour. Which? says prices in London and the South East tend to sit at the upper end of its job price ranges.
Do electricians charge a call-out or service charge?
Some do. Checkatrade gives the example of a minimum charge in London where the first hour is £100 and each hour after that is £45. Out of hours the rate itself goes up: Checkatrade gives £80 to £100 an hour for evenings, nights, weekends and holidays, and HaMuch gives £80 to £150, with an average of £90.
What is an electrician’s day rate?
Checkatrade’s 2026 table puts it at £300 to £500. HaMuch gives an average of £237, from £179 to £307 depending on the area. Checkatrade’s older guide worked it out at £400, based on 8 hours at £50.
How much does an emergency electrician charge?
Checkatrade says the usual rate rises to £80 to £100 an hour in the evenings, at night, at weekends and on holidays. HaMuch puts emergency call-outs at £80 up to £150 an hour, with an average of £90.
How much should I charge for an EICR?
Which? Trusted Traders quote £100 to £330 for an electrical inspection report on a 3-bed semi, taking 4 to 8 hours. That excludes VAT and any remedial work the report finds.
How much does it cost to replace a consumer unit?
Sources differ. Which? puts a fuse box replacement on a 3-bed semi at £500 to £1,500 excluding VAT, Taskrabbit at £400 to £900, and Checkatrade at around £485 for a 10-way RCBO unit in most homes.
How much does NICEIC registration cost?
NICEIC’s Domestic Installer scheme costs £695 plus VAT in the first year, including the £95 application fee, then £595 plus VAT a year. Those are its published fees for 2026/2027.
Sources
Figures checked on 29 September 2026. Price guides change, so check the source before you rely on a figure. Where a source says whether a price includes VAT, the page says so; where it does not, treat the figure as unconfirmed on VAT.
- Checkatrade, How much do tradespeople cost in the UK in 2026?, Updated 04/26 (table: Last updated April 2026).
- Taskrabbit UK, How much does electrical work cost?, 2026-09-01.
- Checkatrade, Electrician hourly rate guide, Last updated 4 April 2024 (tables: May 2024 and March 2025).
- HaMuch, Electrician rates near you for 2026, null on page (headed 'Electrician rates 2026').
- Which? Trusted Traders, How much do electricians cost?, 2026-05-01 (survey of 19 Which? Trusted Traders, November 2025).
- Checkatrade, Consumer Unit Replacement Cost Guide, Updated 02/26 (table: Last updated December 2024).
- NICEIC, Domestic Installer scheme: apply for Certification, 'Fees correct for 2026/2027 NICEIC certification.'.
- NAPIT, Electrical Only Membership Application Form (ID 7679 v2.7), Form version dated 01.25 (January 2025).
- GOV.UK (HMRC), How VAT works / When to register.
- GOV.UK (HMRC), VAT rates.
- JIB (Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry), Handbook 2026 Section 2: National Working Rules, Handbook 2026 (rates from 5 January 2026).
- National Careers Service (GOV.UK), Electrician job profile.
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