Why it is more important than ever to use a Part P Registered Electrician

This year sees big changes happening within the electrical industry. A big change that has already happened is to the building regulation Part P. Two major changes have already been announced as of January 2013 due to come into force in April 2013.

The two changes state:

* The range of electrical installation work that is notifiable (where there is a requirement to certify compliance with the Building Regulations) has been reduced.

* An installer who is not a registered competent person may use a registered third party to certify notifiable electrical installation work as an alternative to using a building control body.

The full governmental document can be viewed here

Two things spring to mind when reading these two changes. Firstly electrical safety and secondly Part P Registered Electrician.

In terms of electrical safety, we at Fulcher Edwards believe that the certifying of electrical installations is a very important aspect of our work as London electricians. Currently, having electrical certification on new electrical installations is confirmation that the work has been installed in line with BS7671 and has been tested for safety by a registered Part P electrician or building control body. Most new electrical installations require certification with careful attention needed in special locations – these are rooms containing a bath, shower, sauna heater or swimming pool.

The changes mean that the work that requires certification is being reduced. In a nut shell this means that less electrical work now needs to comply with Building Regulations. This means that its going to leave the door open for unregistered tradespeople to carry out work which could compromise the customers electrical safety. There is always temptation for others to 'have a go' on electrical work and we have lost count of the number of times we have been called out to rectify dangerous and poorly installed electrical work. Whilst we understand the temptation to use one person to complete your whole job, it is not worth putting your family and home at risk.

Moving onto the fact that it is now no longer necessary to use a competent person to carry out electrical work in homes. We are very concerned about the future of electrical safety on this aspect as we have long been informing the public to only used a Registered Part P electrician to carry out electrical work. The rules will be changing and someone who is not a qualified, registered electrician will be able to carry out the electrical work, and then they will need to have the work certified. Previously this would have been done by the building control body but as of April 2013, the certification can be carried out by a Part P Registered electrician. This will be a huge additional expense to the customer as the electrician will need to be satisfied that the work has been carried out at all stages in line with current regulations and then certify the work. We suspect that many installations tested will not comply with current regulations and will fail. The work would then have to rectified and then retested, all at cost to the customer. If the person is not qualified to do the work in the first place, we ask where will they obtain their knowledge from to install electrical work safely and in line with said regulations?

Our advice when you are thinking of having electrical work carried out in your home is to either have it carried out before April 2013 before Part P changes or to do what we've always said, and that is to employ only a Part P registered electrician to carry out the work. It will certainly be the cheapest option and most importantly, will leave you with peace of mind that your home electrics are safe.