Electrical Testing for Businesses: A Plain Guide

The three checks most premises need

Almost every commercial property in West Sussex needs the same core set of inspections. The fixed wiring inspection, known as an EICR, covers everything hardwired into the building: consumer units, sockets, lighting circuits, isolators. Portable appliance testing covers anything that plugs in, from kettles to till systems. Emergency lighting and fire alarm testing covers the kit that keeps people safe getting out.

These are separate jobs with separate certificates. A common misunderstanding is that a recent EICR covers your appliances too. It does not, and an insurer reviewing a claim will notice.

• EICR (fixed wiring): typically every 5 years for offices, shops and most commercial units
• Higher-risk premises: 3 years for pubs, restaurants and places with public entertainment; annually for swimming pools and some industrial settings
• Appliance testing: risk-based, commonly annual for handheld and moveable items, less often for stationary IT kit
• Emergency lighting: monthly function test, full 3-hour duration test annually
• Fire alarm: weekly call point test by you, six-monthly service by an engineer

What the law actually says

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require you to keep electrical systems in a condition that prevents danger. It does not name a testing interval, which is why you will see so much conflicting advice online. The intervals above come from BS 7671 and the IET guidance, and they are what a court, an HSE inspector or a loss adjuster will measure you against.

If you lease your premises, check the agreement carefully. Landlords in Chichester and Crawley often retain responsibility for the incoming supply and distribution boards while the tenant is responsible for everything beyond a particular point. Get that boundary in writing before you commission any work, so you are not paying twice or, worse, leaving a gap.

Realistic costs and how they are worked out

Fixed wiring inspection is priced on the number of circuits, not floor area. A small retail unit with a single board and ten or twelve circuits might sit somewhere around 300 to 450 pounds plus VAT. A busy workshop or a multi-board office could run to 800 pounds or more. Anyone quoting a flat figure without asking how many distribution boards you have is guessing.

Appliance testing is usually a call-out charge plus a per-item rate, often in the region of 1 to 2 pounds an item once you are past the first twenty or so. Expect the per-item rate to drop on larger sites. Emergency lighting duration testing is normally charged by the hour plus any fittings that fail.

Budget separately for remedial work. An EICR tells you what is wrong; fixing it is a different job with a different quote. On older West Sussex buildings, particularly converted period properties along the coast, the most common finding is a lack of RCD protection on circuits installed before the regulations required it.

Getting the most out of the visit

Testing means turning power off, circuit by circuit. Talk to your electrician about scheduling around trading hours. Most smaller jobs can be done early morning, on a quiet weekday or out of hours for a modest uplift. A hospitality business is usually better served by a Monday or Tuesday morning than a Friday.

Have the previous certificate to hand, along with any labels or schedules for the distribution boards. If circuits are unlabelled, the engineer spends chargeable time working out what feeds what. Clear access to boards, sockets and consumer units genuinely reduces the bill.

• Check the report is signed by a qualified person and lists observation codes (C1, C2, C3, FI)
• C1 and C2 mean unsatisfactory and need addressing before the certificate is worth anything
• C3 is improvement recommended, not a failure, and does not make the report unsatisfactory
• Keep certificates for at least the length of the next inspection cycle

Published 16 September 2026