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Average Cost to Hire an Electrician in the UK 2024
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Average Cost to Hire an Electrician UK
The average cost to hire an electrician is between £20 and £49 per hour, depending on where you’re based. A wide variety of factors drive how much an electrician might charge you, such as whereabouts you are and what you need help with. We’ve also got some tips on how to save money, and tips on the best places to find good electricians.
How much does an Electrician cost in the UK?
An electrician in the UK is likely to cost you somewhere in the range of £20 and £49 per hour. The price you end up paying is, naturally, driven by a number of factors, such as the work you need done, how long it’s likely to take and whereabouts you’re located compared to the electrician.
| City | Cost of hiring an Electrician (per hour) |
|---|---|
| Birmingham | £20 |
| Belfast | £21 |
| Sheffield | £25 |
| Stoke | £26 |
| Cardiff | £29 |
| Newcastle | £29 |
| Nottingham | £30 |
| Bristol | £31 |
| Liverpool | £31 |
| Bradford | £32 |
| Glasgow | £32 |
| Manchester | £32 |
| Edinburgh | £33 |
| Leeds | £33 |
| Plymouth | £33 |
| Northampton | £37 |
| Leicester | £38 |
| Southampton | £38 |
| Luton | £41 |
| Reading | £41 |
| London | £49 |
Unsurprisingly, London is the most expensive city in the UK to hire an electrician in—considering that it’s more expensive to live in London than Los Angeles this should hardly come as a surprise. Comparatively, the cheapest city in the UK to hire an electrician is Birmingham, at just £20 per hour—under half that of London.
Electricians are most likely to charge you in one of two ways—either for the amount of time you require them for or specifically for the task you require. Both have benefits and drawbacks—a task might be completed more quickly than you expected, in which case you’d prefer to pay by hour, but if it ends up taking longer or getting complicated you’d probably prefer to pay for the task and not the time.
When hiring a tradesman, it’s important to make sure you’re protected if they make a mistake or something goes wrong. Check our guide to Electricians insurance so you know which types of insurance your electrician should have, and ask for appropriate references from anyone you’re thinking of letting in to your home.
How much do common Electrical tasks usually cost?
You can expect to pay between £63 and £200 for the majority of simple, common electrical work. For example, repairing a light switch costs around £85 and installing a video doorbell costs around £110. Larger work, like rewiring an entire house or apartment, can be considerably more expensive than this—starting from £1,900 for a 1 bedroom house.
| Task | Average Cost |
|---|---|
| Repairing a light | £85 |
| Fixing electrical sockets | £90 |
| Replacing a ceiling light | £100 |
| Installing a video doorbell | £110 |
| Fixing a fuse box | £111 |
| Repairing an electrical shower | £112 |
| Installing an electric hob | £127 |
| Electrician inspection report | £160 |
Larger, more time-intensive tasks like rewiring your apartment or house will, naturally, be considerably more expensive. While it’ll start around £1,900 for a one bedroom, prices for 4 or 5 bedroom residences can easily go north of £5,000 (and that’s just for the labour)—but as with any electrical task, it isn’t worth taking the cheapest possible option and risking something going wrong.
| Size of House | Price | Completion Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Bedroom | £1,900-£3,000 | 4-7 days |
| 2 Bedroom | £2,300-£3,500 | 5-8 days |
| 3 Bedroom | £3,000-£4,500 | 6-10 days |
| 4 Bedroom | £3,700-£5,500 | 1-2 weeks |
| 5 Bedroom | £4,400-£6,500 | 10-15 days |
You’ll expect to find your lower-end prices towards the north of England, with your higher-end prices coming in London and the surrounding regions.
What factors impact the price of hiring an Electrician?
If you need to hire an electrician, there are few things they’ll need to know before they can accurately quote you. These questions ultimately determine how much you’ll end up paying for their visit, and allow the electrician to get up to speed with:
- Experience level required
- Difficulty of work
- Material costs (wiring, sockets etc.)
- Time required
- Date (may charge more at weekends)
- Time (may charge more for non-business hours)
When something electrical in your house goes wrong, it can often be a matter of urgency to get it fixed—say, if your fuse box blew. Electricians are more than happy to come out to you at the earliest possible opportunity to fix the issue, but don’t be surprised if they charge you an emergency callout fee.
How can I save money on hiring an Electrician?
As many electricians charge by time (hour/day), one of the easiest ways to save money is to reduce the amount of time an electrician will need to get the job done. This can include things such as making sure everything is easily accessible, clearing a workspace for them and moving any furniture around as required.
Similarly, consider moving anything that might get in the electrician's way—this will reduce the amount of time they need to spend clearing their work space to complete the tasks, helping to keep the overall cost lower due to the fewer hours required.
Finally, many traditional methods of saving money on tradesmen still apply to electricians. These can include things such as:
- Comparing quotes from a number of providers
- Purchasing your own materials (fuses etc.)
- Take care of smaller tasks yourself (if confident, but do be careful!)
- Be clear on what you want
- Go direct and cut out middlemen
As always, while choosing the cheapest option might seem like a good idea at the time, do consider the potential costs of the work being done poorly. Reference check anybody you're considering hiring and, if possible, ask around friends and colleagues for any good referrals.
Where can I find an Electrician?
There are a few methods you can utilize to find quality electricians. Firstly, a simple Google search should provide you with a list of local tradesmen (and the opportunity to read online reviews of their services) and businesses operating in your area—do keep in mind that some businesses are proud to get a majority of their work from word of mouth, and so might not have a huge online presence (and in rural areas, perhaps none at all).
As mentioned above, asking people you know for referrals for a quality business is a good way to mitigate the risk of hiring someone who can't do the job properly—if a friend had a very good experience previously, it's reasonable to assume that business could offer you the same service.
Aggregator websites like Checkatrade or trustatrader can offer you the opportunity to compare a wide variety of businesses, see where they're based and read online reviews.
More traditional methods of sourcing tradesmen, such as local newspapers or job boards, can still be a useful resource, but might take a bit more time to sift through in order to find what you're looking for.
Quotes for electricians and their job costs were gathered from multiple sources, including Checkatrade and Hamuch.
Data on task costs was gathered from a number of sources, such as Which?, Checkatrade and Local Heroes (British Gas)