Periodic inspection and testing of your premises' fixed electrical installation — the report your insurer, your landlord and the Electricity at Work Regulations expect you to hold, delivered without shutting the business to get it.
The duty
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 place a duty on employers and anyone in control of premises to maintain electrical systems, so far as reasonably practicable, in a condition that prevents danger. The regulations deliberately don't name a test interval — what they demand is evidence of maintenance, and a periodic EICR carried out by qualified electricians to the 18th Edition (BS 7671) is the accepted way to provide it.
In practice the pressure arrives from several directions at once. Insurers increasingly ask to see a current inspection report at renewal. Commercial leases routinely oblige tenants to keep electrical certification up to date. Licensing regimes — from alcohol to HMO-adjacent uses — add their own conditions. And if an incident ever happens, the EICR is the document that shows the duty was taken seriously.
You may hear the same exercise called fixed wire testing or periodic inspection — they're all the same report.
Frequency
There is no single statutory interval. Each report sets its own next inspection date, judged from the installation's condition and how hard the premises use it. As a rough map of common practice:
| Premises type | Commonly recommended maximum interval |
|---|---|
| Offices and shops | 5 years |
| Restaurants, cafés and hotels | 5 years |
| Industrial units and workshops | 3 years |
| Higher-risk or public-facing environments | Often shorter — set by risk, sometimes annually |
Treat the table as guidance, not law: the interval that binds you is the one written on your last report, plus anything your insurer or lease imposes on top. If you're unsure where you stand, send us a copy of the previous certificate and we'll tell you.
How we work
Circuits have to come off supply to be tested, so we isolate them in planned stages — and where even that would hurt, we test in the evening or at the weekend. A restaurant kitchen, a trading shop floor and a server room all get a plan, not a surprise blackout.
Findings are coded C1, C2, FI and C3 just as on a domestic report — but on a commercial site there can be dozens. We turn them into a costed schedule ordered by urgency, so you can fix what's dangerous now and budget the rest deliberately.
Reports are formatted for the people who'll actually read them — insurers, landlords' agents and licensing officers — with the schedules of test results attached, so nothing bounces back for missing detail.
The EICR covers the wiring; the kettles, computers and power tools are a separate exercise. Pairing the inspection with PAT testing — and, where relevant, emergency lighting testing — in one visit keeps the whole compliance file in step.
We test premises of every size, from a single lock-up to multi-board industrial units. If your portfolio also includes rented homes, the domestic rules are stricter still — see the landlord EICR page — or browse all electrical services. For a quote, tell us about the premises.
Common questions
It depends on the size of the premises and the number of circuits and distribution boards — a small shop and a multi-floor office are very different jobs. Send the address, floor area and what you know about the boards via WhatsApp or the quote form and we'll reply with a fixed quote, usually the same working day.
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require electrical systems to be maintained so as to prevent danger, and a periodic EICR by a qualified electrician is the accepted way to evidence that. Insurers and commercial leases frequently make a current report an explicit condition as well.
Yes — fixed wire testing, periodic inspection and EICR all describe the same exercise: inspecting and testing the fixed electrical installation and reporting its condition against BS 7671. The document you receive is the Electrical Installation Condition Report.
It shouldn't. Circuits are isolated in planned stages rather than all at once, and we offer evening and weekend testing so the parts of the inspection that need power off happen when the premises are closed. Tell us your operating hours and we'll plan around them.
The report itself sets the next inspection date based on the installation's condition and use. As general guidance, offices and shops are commonly on five-year cycles and industrial premises on shorter ones — and insurers or licences sometimes impose their own intervals on top.
Tell us the property type and postcode — we'll come back with a fixed quote and the earliest available date.