What to charge / Electricians · Checked 29 September 2026
The 2026 figures for electricians disagree more than you might expect. Checkatrade’s April 2026 table gives £40 to £70 an hour and £300 to £500 a day, while jobs booked through Taskrabbit average £40 an hour and HaMuch’s database averages £34. 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
| 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. |
Job prices
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
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
Pricing well
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Quote these figures
You are welcome to use the figures on this page in an article, a newsletter or a course. Please credit While You Work with a link to this page:
<a href="https://whileyouwork.co.uk/what-to-charge/electrician/">UK electrician rates 2026, While You Work</a>More pricing guides: plumbers, builders, roofers, painters and decorators, locksmiths, driving instructors, cleaners, gardeners.
While You Work answers in your business name when you cannot, and emails you the details within a minute. £49 a month including VAT, first week free once your line is live.