Commercial EICR
Testing Across London
Electrical installation condition reports for offices, retail units, warehouses and industrial premises. NICEIC and NAPIT approved engineers, three-phase specialists, out-of-hours slots available.
- 3-Phase & Industrial Specialists
- Out-of-Hours Testing
- Fully Insured Engineers
- Digital Report Issued
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Commercial EICR Pricing
All prices include VAT. A commercial EICR is priced on boards and circuits rather than floor area, so larger sites are quoted after a quick survey.
| Package | Price (Inc VAT) | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Small Unit or Office | From £139.99 | |
| Multiple Boards | Custom Quote | |
| 3-Phase Installation | Custom Quote | |
| Out-of-Hours Testing | Custom Quote | |
| Thermographic Survey | Custom Quote |
Your Commercial EICR Guide
Everything a London business needs to know about a commercial EICR, in the order people usually ask it. Jump straight to the part you need.
- What is a commercial EICR?
- Why your business needs one
- Three-phase supplies and boards
- The law and your legal duties
- How often you need testing
- Insurance and lease requirements
- Who needs one?
- How it differs from a home check
- What affects the price
- Out-of-hours and phased testing
- Preparing your premises
- Reading your report and its codes
- Remedial work and re-testing
What is a Commercial EICR?
A commercial EICR is an Electrical Installation Condition Report carried out on a business premises rather than a home. It is a formal, documented inspection and test of the fixed electrical installation — the supply, the distribution boards, the sub-mains, the final circuits and everything wired into them — measured against the safety requirements of BS 7671, the IET Wiring Regulations.
Commercial installations are simply bigger and busier than domestic ones. Many run on a three-phase 400V supply feeding multiple distribution boards, sub-distribution boards, motors, air conditioning plant, catering equipment or machinery. The report accounts for all of it, and records every observation against a defined code so you know exactly what is safe, what is urgent and what is merely recommended.
A finished commercial EICR is the evidence a duty holder relies on. Insurers ask for it, landlords and managing agents ask for it at lease renewal, and the Health and Safety Executive will expect to see it if there is ever an incident on site.
Distribution Boards
Every main and sub board is opened, inspected and tested, not just the first one we find.
Three-Phase Supply
Phase rotation, balance across phases, and the integrity of the main switchgear.
Circuit Tracing
Unknown or mislabelled circuits traced and correctly identified on new schedules.
Thermographic Survey
Optional thermal imaging to find hot joints and overloaded terminals under live load.
Key Information
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01
Typical Interval
Commonly every 5 years, or on change of occupancy.
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02
Duration
Half a day for a small unit; several days for large sites.
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03
Result
Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory, with coded observations.
Who is the duty holder?
Under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 the duty falls on employers, the self-employed and anyone in control of a work premises — so it can sit with the occupier, the landlord, or both under the terms of the lease.
Why Your Business Needs a Commercial EICR
A commercial EICR protects the people who work in your building and the business that depends on it. Commercial installations take a harder life than domestic ones: circuits get extended for new desks, machinery is moved, tenants fit out and strip out, and connections loosen under thermal cycling. None of that is visible from the outside, and all of it is found by inspection and test.
There is also a plain legal driver. Under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 every electrical system at a place of work must be maintained, so far as is reasonably practicable, to prevent danger. The Regulations do not name a document or a date — but periodic inspection and testing is the accepted way a duty holder demonstrates the system is being maintained, and an unsatisfactory report acted on quickly is far better evidence than no report at all.
Commercially, the report earns its keep twice over. Most business insurance policies require current electrical inspection evidence, and many full repairing and insuring leases oblige the tenant to produce one before renewal or at yield-up. Without it a claim can be queried, a dilapidations schedule can grow, and a sale or refinance can stall while the paperwork is chased.
The Commercial EICR Inspection Process
Every commercial EICR is planned around your trading hours, so testing never costs you a day of business.
Survey & Plan
We agree the extent and limitations, locate every board, and schedule outages around your operation.
Dead Testing
Circuits are isolated board by board for continuity, insulation resistance and polarity testing.
Live Testing
Supply restored for earth fault loop impedance, RCD trip times, phase rotation and load balance.
Report Issued
Coded observations, updated circuit schedules and a costed remedial quote sent digitally.
Three-Phase Supplies and Distribution Boards
Most homes are fed by a single-phase 230V supply and one consumer unit. A commercial premises is frequently fed by a three-phase 400V supply — three live conductors at 230V to neutral, 400V between phases — landing on a main switch panel that then feeds sub-mains out to distribution boards across the building.
That changes the work. Every board has to be located, isolated and tested in turn, sub-main cables have to be verified along their whole length, and the loading on each phase has to be checked so one phase is not carrying far more current than the other two. Motors, lifts, air-conditioning plant and catering equipment bring their own controls, isolators and protective devices into scope.
It also changes who should do it. Our senior engineers are qualified and equipped for industrial three-phase inspection and testing, including installations with switchgear that predates the current edition of BS 7671 and needs judgement rather than a tick sheet.
Phase Balance
Loading measured across all three phases to find overloaded or neglected phases.
Sub-Mains
Cables between the main panel and each sub board verified for size and protection.
Switchgear & Isolators
Main switches, local isolation and emergency stops checked for function and access.
Labelling & Schedules
Boards relabelled and circuit schedules rebuilt so maintenance is safe and quick.
On a Commercial Site
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01
Boards, not a board
Pricing follows the number of boards and circuits, not the floor area.
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02
Sampling is allowed
BS 7671 permits agreed sampling on large installations; the extent is recorded on the report.
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03
Phased over visits
Large sites can be tested floor by floor so trading is never fully interrupted.
Power interruptions
Dead testing needs the supply off, so each board involves a short planned outage. Tell us about servers, tills, cold storage, alarms and lifts in advance and we will sequence the work around them.
Commercial EICR Law: What UK Businesses Must Do
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989
The duty behind a commercial EICR sits in the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, made under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Regulation 4(2) is the one that matters most: as may be necessary to prevent danger, all systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, such danger.
Notice what the Regulations do not say. They set no interval, name no certificate and prescribe no form. They place a continuing duty on the duty holder — the employer, the self-employed person, or whoever is in control of the premises — to keep the system safe. Periodic inspection and testing to BS 7671, recorded on an Electrical Installation Condition Report, is the recognised way of discharging that duty and of showing an inspector, an insurer or a court that you took it seriously.
Regulations 14 and 16 add two practical points that shape how we work on site. Work on or near live conductors is only permitted where it is unreasonable to work dead and suitable precautions are taken, which is why dead testing and planned outages are unavoidable. And no person may be engaged in work where technical knowledge or experience is lacking — so a commercial installation must be inspected by an engineer competent for that type and scale of system, not simply by a qualified domestic electrician.
The Health and Safety Executive enforces the Regulations and publishes practical guidance on electrical safety at work covering maintenance, competence and safe working practice. Breaches are criminal offences under the 1974 Act; because enforcement practice and sentencing guidance change over time, check the current HSE guidance rather than relying on figures quoted second-hand.
How often should a commercial EICR be carried out?
Because the law sets no fixed interval, the industry works to the recommended maximum periods published in the IET’s guidance supporting BS 7671. In broad terms:
- Offices, shops and industrial units — commonly five years. This is the interval most commercial premises and most insurers work to, and the one we quote unless the site says otherwise.
- On change of occupancy. A new tenant inherits an installation they did not commission. Testing at the point of handover protects both parties and gives a clean baseline for dilapidations.
- More often in higher-risk environments. Shorter intervals are recommended for places such as swimming pools, petrol filling stations, construction sites, agricultural premises and laundrettes, where water, dust, corrosion or heavy portable equipment accelerate deterioration.
- Residential parts of a mixed-use building. Flats above a shop are caught by the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, which impose a firm five-year cycle of their own on the rented dwellings.
- After significant alteration. A fit-out, a change of use or new machinery normally needs its own certification, and may justify bringing the next periodic inspection forward.
The inspecting engineer also records a recommended date for the next inspection on the report itself, based on the condition and use of the installation in front of them. If your report specifies three years rather than five, that recommendation is the one to diarise.
Insurance and lease requirements
Two commercial pressures usually bring the inspection forward before any regulator does. The first is insurance. Business and property policies commonly include an electrical maintenance condition, and after an electrical fire an insurer will ask what evidence exists that the system was being maintained. A current, satisfactory report answers that question in one document; an expired one invites a much longer conversation.
The second is the lease. Full repairing and insuring leases frequently place responsibility for the electrical installation on the tenant, and require condition evidence at renewal, on assignment, or at yield-up. Landlords and managing agents equally want a report before they accept a unit back. Where a building has landlord-retained services — risers, plant rooms, landlord lighting, car parks — those usually need their own separate inspection, and it is worth agreeing in writing who is testing what before either party books an engineer.
If you are not sure which side of the demise a board sits on, send us the lease plan with your enquiry. Sorting out the scope beforehand avoids paying twice for the same distribution board, or worse, discovering that nobody has tested it at all.
Who Needs a Commercial EICR?
Businesses, landlords and managing agents
If you employ people, control a workplace, or let a building to someone who does, the electrical installation is your responsibility to keep safe. In practice we test the same handful of situations again and again across London:
- Offices and serviced workspace. Heavy small-power loads, constant desk churn and floor boxes that get re-wired far more often than anyone records.
- Retail units, salons and takeaways. Shop fits leave behind extended circuits, and catering and treatment equipment adds load the original design never anticipated.
- Warehouses and light industrial units. Three-phase machinery, distribution around a steel frame, and dust or damp attacking older armoured cable and glands.
- Restaurants, pubs and commercial kitchens. Extraction, refrigeration and cooking loads running long hours in a hot, humid environment.
- Landlord-retained services in multi-let buildings. Risers, plant rooms, communal lighting and car park supplies that no single tenant is watching.
- Schools, surgeries, gyms and places of worship. Public access raises the stakes on earthing, bonding and RCD protection.
Buying, selling or refinancing a commercial property is the other common trigger. A surveyor or a buyer’s solicitor will ask for the current electrical condition report, and an unsatisfactory one discovered late in a transaction almost always turns into a price negotiation.
How a commercial EICR differs from a domestic one
The test methods come from the same standard, but the job is not the same. A domestic EICR certificate covers one consumer unit, a predictable set of final circuits and a single-phase supply, and a five-year cycle is imposed on rented homes by regulation. A business inspection covers multiple boards, sub-mains, three-phase distribution and equipment that cannot simply be switched off at 10am on a Tuesday, and the interval is a judgement based on risk rather than a statutory number.
It is also worth being clear about what the report does not cover. Fixed wiring is in scope; plug-in equipment is not. Kettles, computers, power tools, extension leads and floor-standing appliances are covered by PAT testing, which is a separate exercise most businesses run on a shorter cycle. Gas-fired plant in a commercial kitchen or plant room needs a commercial gas certificate, and the electrical ignition sources found during testing feed straight into your fire risk assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Booking the electrical, gas and fire work together usually saves a second round of access arrangements and a second set of outages. If you tell us what else is due when you book online, we will try to put them on the same visit.
What affects the price
Commercial pricing starts from £139.99 and is then built from the installation itself rather than the square footage. The main drivers are the number of distribution boards, the total number of final circuits, whether the supply is single or three-phase, how accessible the boards and accessories are, and whether testing has to happen outside trading hours.
Two things reduce the cost more than anything else: accurate existing circuit schedules, and someone on site with keys to every riser, cupboard and plant room. Two things increase it: boards buried behind stock or fixed furniture, and undocumented circuits that have to be traced from scratch. We confirm a fixed figure before an engineer is booked, so nothing on the invoice is a surprise.
Understanding Commercial EICR Observation Codes
Every commercial EICR observation is classified with one of four codes. A single C1, C2 or FI makes the whole report Unsatisfactory.
Danger Present
A risk of injury exists right now — exposed live parts, a broken enclosure, no earth. We make it safe or isolate the circuit before leaving site.
Potentially Dangerous
Safe while everything works, dangerous the moment a fault occurs — for example missing bonding or an ineffective earth path.
Improvement Recommended
The installation does not meet the current edition of BS 7671 but is not dangerous. Improvement is advisory, not compulsory.
Further Investigation
Something could not be assessed on the day — a locked riser, a circuit that could not be isolated, or a reading that needs tracing back.
What is Tested During a Commercial EICR?
1. Intake, Main Switchgear and Metering
We start where the supply lands: the cut-out, the earthing arrangement (TN-S, TN-C-S or TT), the main switch or panel and the main protective bonding to incoming gas, water and structural steel. On a three-phase supply we confirm phase rotation and check that the main switchgear can be operated and isolated safely.
2. Distribution and Sub-Distribution Boards
Every board on site is opened, not just the first one. We check enclosure integrity, IP rating, correct device selection and discrimination, terminal tightness, signs of thermal damage, and whether the circuit schedule inside the door bears any relationship to what is actually connected.
3. Sub-Main Cabling and Containment
The cables running between boards are frequently the least documented part of a commercial installation. We verify conductor sizing against the protective device, inspect trunking, tray, conduit and SWA glanding, and test insulation resistance along the run to confirm the cable is sound where it disappears into the fabric of the building.
4. Final Circuits, Sockets and Lighting
Small power, floor boxes, lighting circuits and emergency lighting supplies are tested for continuity, polarity and earth fault loop impedance. In commercial premises we pay particular attention to circuits that have been extended during fit-outs, where a ring can quietly have been converted into something the protective device no longer suits.
5. RCD Protection and Fault Protection
RCDs and RCBOs are tested at rated and multiplied current to confirm they trip within the required times. We also check that disconnection times are achieved by the protective devices themselves, which on longer commercial sub-mains and machine circuits cannot be assumed from a domestic rule of thumb.
6. Fixed Plant, Machinery and Special Locations
Isolators for motors, lifts, air-conditioning plant, extraction and catering equipment are checked for correct location, function and labelling. Kitchens, wash-down areas, workshops and external supplies are assessed for the right IP ratings, and we note any equipment that should be under a separate maintenance regime.
Preparing for Your Commercial EICR
Out-of-hours and phased testing
The single biggest objection we hear is downtime, and it is a fair one. Dead testing genuinely requires the supply to be switched off, board by board, and no amount of goodwill changes the physics. What we can change is when it happens.
Evening, overnight and weekend appointments are available across London, and for larger buildings we phase the work — one floor, one wing or one board group per visit — so the premises never goes fully dark. Where a server room, cold store, alarm panel or lift must not lose supply, tell us at the survey stage and we will plan around it, arrange a temporary supply, or agree that the circuit is recorded as a limitation on the report rather than risking your operation.
Retail units are often best done before opening; offices after close; restaurants between service; warehouses on a Sunday. Whatever the pattern, it is agreed and written into the job before the engineer arrives.
Preparing your premises for the inspection
Half an hour of preparation can take hours off the visit and a chunk off the invoice:
- Clear access to every board. Boards behind stock, shelving or fixed furniture are the most common cause of a job overrunning. The engineer needs to stand in front of the board and open it fully.
- Find the keys. Risers, plant rooms, roof plant, external cupboards and car park supplies all need to be opened on the day, and a locked enclosure normally becomes an FI observation.
- Dig out the paperwork. The previous report, any installation certificates from fit-out works, and existing circuit schedules all speed up the inspection and let us compare against previous results.
- Warn your people. Staff and any sub-tenants should know when the power will be off, and IT should shut servers down cleanly rather than letting them drop.
- Nominate a contact. One person on site with keys and authority to approve a short outage is worth more than any other single thing you can arrange.
If the premises is occupied by a tenant, give them proper notice in writing. Access disputes delay far more commercial inspections than technical problems ever do.
How to read the report you receive
The document arrives in defined sections and it is worth knowing which ones to read first. The extent and limitations section states exactly what was inspected and what was excluded or sampled — read it before anything else, because it defines what the rest of the report actually covers. The summary of the condition of the installation gives the overall Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory verdict and the recommended date for the next inspection.
The observations schedule lists each defect with its code and location, and is the section your contractor will price from. Behind that sit the schedule of circuit details and test results, which record the measured values circuit by circuit — these are the numbers a future engineer will compare against, so keep them with the report rather than filing the front page alone.
Store the report with your health and safety file, your insurance documents and any lease correspondence. Keeping the previous report alongside the current one shows a maintenance history rather than a one-off snapshot, and that history is exactly what an insurer or an inspector is looking for.
What Happens If the Report Comes Back Unsatisfactory?
An Unsatisfactory result is not a disaster
Older commercial installations very often come back Unsatisfactory the first time they are properly tested, and it is rarely because the building is unsafe to occupy. It usually means a handful of C2 observations — a missing bond, an ineffective earth path, a board with no RCD protection on a circuit that now needs it — plus one or two FI items where a locked cupboard stopped the engineer finishing the job.
The result matters because it is not a pass mark; it is a task list. A C1 is dealt with on the day: the engineer makes the danger safe or isolates the circuit before leaving, and tells you in person as well as in writing. C2 items should be corrected without delay, and the practical benchmark most insurers and managing agents apply is that remedial work is instructed promptly and completed on a documented programme. FI items need a return visit once access is arranged. C3 items are advisory — worth budgeting for, but they do not stop the installation being certified as satisfactory.
What you should never do is put the report in a drawer. A known, recorded, uncorrected C2 is far worse for a duty holder than an untested installation, because it proves you knew.
Remedial work and re-testing
We quote remedial work line by line against the observation numbers on your report, so you can see exactly what each item costs and decide what is urgent, what is planned and what goes into next year’s budget. There is no obligation to use us for the repairs — plenty of clients take the report to their own contractor, and the coded schedule is written to be handed over.
Once the work is done, the completed items are certified with a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate or an Electrical Installation Certificate, depending on the scale of the alteration. Where the original outcome was Unsatisfactory, we can then re-issue or amend the condition report so your file shows a satisfactory position rather than an open list of defects. That final document is the one your insurer, your landlord and your auditor will want to see.
Independent, non-commercial background reading on inspection, testing and electrical safety is published by Electrical Safety First, and it is a useful sense-check if you want to understand an observation before instructing anyone. When you are ready, you can book your inspection online in about two minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Clear answers on commercial EICR frequency, downtime, three-phase testing and what your insurer expects to see.
Typically every 5 years for commercial installations, or on change of occupancy. Higher-risk environments such as swimming pools, petrol stations, construction sites and laundrettes may need more frequent testing, and the engineer records a recommended next inspection date on the report itself.
Yes, brief power outages are necessary for dead testing. We offer out-of-hours appointments (evenings, nights and weekends) and can phase the work board by board so your business operations are not disrupted.
Yes. Our senior engineers are fully qualified to inspect and test industrial three-phase installations, multiple sub-distribution boards, switchgear and machine circuits.
Most business insurance policies require valid electrical inspection evidence. Without it your insurer may query or refuse a claim following an electrical fire or accident, so check the electrical maintenance condition in your own policy wording.
It depends on the size of the premises and the number of circuits. A small retail unit might take 2-4 hours, whereas large offices can take a full day or more, and multi-floor buildings are often phased across several visits.
It depends on the lease. Under a full repairing and insuring lease the tenant is usually responsible for the installation within their demise, while the landlord retains risers, plant rooms and communal supplies. Agree the split in writing before booking so no board is tested twice or missed entirely.
No. The condition report covers the fixed wiring of the building — supply, boards, cabling, sockets and lighting. PAT testing covers plug-in equipment such as computers, kettles, power tools and extension leads, and is normally carried out on a shorter cycle.
Often yes. On sites with more than one distribution board we can isolate one area at a time, so trading continues elsewhere. Where that is not possible we schedule outside your trading hours instead.
A digital condition report with the extent and limitations, the overall Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory verdict, a coded observation schedule, full circuit details and test results, updated board schedules, and an itemised quotation for any remedial work.
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Commercial EICR Service Areas in London
We cover all 32 London boroughs and the M25, including the City, Canary Wharf, the West End and every industrial estate in between. Fast dispatch for: