Key Considerations
When choosing an electrician to do electrical
work in your home, the key considerations are:
- You want the work to be carried out to the
National Standard: BS 7671
(The IEE Wiring Regulations).
- You want the work to be done by a Competent
Person. (Someone who has the combination of qualifications and/or
experience necessary to carry out the work safely, and to the required
standard.
- You want to be protected by insurance
against any accidental damage that may arise during the work.
- You want to ensure that Building Control is
informed of any notifiable work under Part-P of
The Building Regulations. (See Understanding the Building
Regulations
Part-P.)
Using a Registered Electrician
Electricians may voluntarily apply for
registration with any of a number of registration organisations. These
organisations vet applicants for their competence, including any relevant
qualifications and experience; they require adequate insurance and they carry
out an annual review with inspection of actual examples of installation work.
All registered electricians are obliged by the terms of their registration to
comply with BS 7671.
The registration organisations offer a complaints process, for customers who
are not satisfied with the service they have received. There is a partial list
of organisations here: Trade, Consumer and
Other Organisations. Choosing a
Registered Electrician is the easy choice for the customer who does not want
to have to satisfy themselves of the bone-fides of a trader. However not all
good electricians want to become registered; because it is expensive and of
doubtful business cost-benefit to a trader. Furthermore, although at least one
organisation vets individuals, not all do so; and so with a large firm the
actual individuals who do the work may not be as competent personally as
perhaps a single individual who holds the registration credentials for the
firm.
Working to BS:7671
The easiest way to ensure that work is carried
out to BS7671 is to ensure that this requirement is specified to the
installer, and agreed by them as part of the contract. BS7671
requires that all work is inspected and tested, and that either an Electrical
Installation Certificate or Minor Works Certificate, containing test results,
is issued for all work carried out.
Achieving Building Regulation Control
Use either a member of a Part-P
Self-Certification Scheme (all members of self-certification schemes are
necessarily also registered electricians), or submit an application for
Building Control to your LABC. Note
that if submitting an application for general building work, e.g. for a house
extension, then the electrical work will be included within the application.
See local LABC sites for more details. Note
also that a non-registered electrician will normally require that a Building
Application (typically a Building Notice) is submitted to the LABC
48-hours before notifiable work commences (this would not be necessary
for emergency work needed to make an installation safe immediately).
Ensuring Competency
If using a non-registered electrician,
then ask to see copies of certificates for qualifications. Any bone-fide
non-registered electrician should be proud to prove their credentials. Look in
particular for the qualifications C&G 2380 (IEE Wiring Regulations)
and C&G 2391 (Inspection and Testing).
Insurance
The insurance of Registered Electricians is
checked annually, however all traders are required to carry adequate levels of
3rd-party insurance, and it is worth asking to see the insurance certificate
that covers your work (this is standard practice in commercial contracts). | 
