Consumer Unit Upgrades near you

If you have wondered why the plastic board on the wall is being replaced with a steel one, this is why. The IET's guidance for householders states that from January 2016 the IET Wiring Regulations required consumer units in domestic household premises to be manufactured from non-combustible material. The requirement was introduced by Amendment 3 to the 17th Edition, published as BS 7671:2008+A3:2015, and it survives into the current edition: BS 7671:2018 requires consumer units and similar switchgear assemblies in domestic premises to be manufactured from non-combustible materials, or to be enclosed in a cabinet constructed from non-combustible material.

Ferrous metal such as steel is the example given of a non-combustible material, which is why the modern domestic board is a steel box rather than the moulded plastic one it replaces. The intention is straightforward: if something inside the enclosure arcs or overheats, the enclosure should contain it rather than contribute to it.

This applies to units being installed or replaced, not retrospectively to every board in the country. Whether the older unit on your wall is acceptable where it stands is a judgement for the electrician inspecting it, recorded with reasons on an Electrical Installation Condition Report, rather than something that can be decided from the material of the cover alone.

Plan for a day without power, and for more of it than the swap itself takes. The installation has to be isolated, the existing circuits identified and tested before they are transferred, the new unit fitted and each circuit connected and tested again, and the results recorded. Circuits are reconnected as the work progresses, but there is no version of this job that leaves the house live throughout.

Expect the work to find things. A consumer unit replacement is the moment when earthing and main protective bonding get examined properly, and where those are missing or inadequate they generally have to be put right before the new board can be energised and certified. Ask, before the day, what happens if the electrician finds a circuit that cannot be reconnected safely: a good answer describes an isolated circuit, a written explanation and a separate quotation, not an improvised fix.

At the end you should receive an Electrical Installation Certificate for the work, a schedule of the circuits and the test results, and confirmation that the work has been notified. Keep all of it with the deeds. On LokalMatch the route to that point is simple: you describe the board you have and what you want done, once, with your postcode, and electricians covering your area get in touch. Pros pay for the requests they receive, and LokalMatch does not do the work, does not set prices and does not vet, rank or recommend anyone who replies.

Replacing a consumer unit is the clearest example of notifiable domestic electrical work. Government guidance on building regulations approval names replacing fuse boxes and connected electrics as work that may need approval, and says you do not need to get approval yourself if the installer is registered with a competent person scheme. Part P covers electrical safety in dwellings, and Approved Document P is the statutory guidance for England explaining when notification is required.

Registration is what makes the simple route available. Government publishes the authorised competent person schemes, and those covering electrical installation work in dwellings include Certsure trading as NICEIC, NAPIT, BESCA, Blue Flame Certification and OFTEC. An installer on one of these schemes can self-certify the work; an installer who is not registered has to involve a building control body instead, which takes longer and costs more.

Outside England the machinery differs. Welsh Government guidance says a registered installer arranges for you to receive a building regulations compliance certificate within 30 days of the work being completed. In Scotland, work is authorised through a building warrant granted by the local authority acting as verifier under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003, with a completion certificate at the end and technical handbooks in place of approved documents. In Northern Ireland the Department of Finance makes the building regulations under the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) Order 1979, with district councils responsible for enforcement.

A new board comes with two small obligations, and both are easy. The first is the test button: the IET tells householders to test residual current devices every six months, which means pressing the button, confirming the device trips, and switching it back on. A device that does not trip is a fault to report, not a quirk to live with.

The second is knowing when the installation should be looked at again. The IET's guidance for householders gives a maximum frequency of once every ten years for owner-occupied homes, and once every five years or at change of occupancy for rented property. Private landlords in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland now have five-year duties in law rather than guidance, so for let property the legal interval is the one that governs.

Two quotations for the same board can differ mainly in what they assume about the circuits behind it. The unit itself is rarely where the variation comes from.