EICR stands for Electrical Installation Condition Report. It is a periodic inspection and test of the fixed wiring of a building: the consumer unit, the circuits, the accessories and the earthing, examined and measured against the current wiring standard and written up on a standard report. It is a snapshot of condition on the day, signed by the person who took it, and it is not a certificate that anything was installed.
What a domestic electrical installation condition report contains
Three things. A schedule of the circuits, so anyone reading it knows what was inspected. A schedule of test results, with the measured values for each circuit. And a list of observations, each carrying a classification code, followed by an overall assessment that says satisfactory or unsatisfactory. The assessment is the sentence most people read, and it is the one that depends entirely on the observations underneath it.
Why an EICR electrical certificate is really a condition report
A certificate is issued by whoever did work: it says this installation was designed, built and tested to the standard. A condition report is issued by somebody inspecting work that already exists, often decades old, and says what condition it is in now. Confusing the two matters, because a buyer asking for the certificate for a rewire wants the installation certificate and will not accept a condition report instead.
What satisfactory means, and what it does not
Satisfactory means the inspector found nothing that makes the installation dangerous or potentially dangerous. It does not mean the installation meets the current standard in every respect, because an older installation legitimately does not, and it does not mean nothing will go wrong tomorrow. The report is a professional opinion on a date, with the evidence attached.
Who is entitled to issue one
A person competent to inspect and test to BS 7671, with the training, experience and calibrated instruments to do it. Where a report is being produced to meet the private rented sector duty in England, the regulations require it to be carried out by a qualified person, and the name on the report is what a local housing authority will look at.
How it differs from a gas safety record
People search for the two together because a landlord buys them together. They are different regimes. The gas record is an annual check of appliances and flues by a Gas Safe registered engineer. The EICR is a periodic inspection of the fixed electrical installation at intervals set by the last report, with no annual requirement behind it.
What is eicr certificate shorthand for? A condition report, not a pass
Nothing issues an EICR certificate, and the phrase is worth unpicking because it sets the wrong expectation. What an inspection produces is an Electrical Installation Condition Report: a schedule of the circuits, a record of the tests, a list of observations each with a classification code, and an overall opinion of satisfactory or unsatisfactory. It reports a condition on a date. It does not certify that an installation is safe indefinitely, and it is not the document that covers new work, which is an Electrical Installation Certificate from whoever did the work. When a letting agent, a lender or an insurer asks for the certificate, the document to send is the report, and if the report says unsatisfactory then sending it is not compliance, it is the start of the remedial list.
Other questions people ask
What does EICR stand for?
Electrical Installation Condition Report.
Is an EICR the same as an electrical safety certificate?
It is what people mean by that phrase. There is no document called an electrical safety certificate; the report a landlord or a buyer is asking for is the EICR.
Is an EICR the same as an EIC?
No. An Electrical Installation Certificate is issued by whoever carried out new work. An EICR reports the condition of an installation that already exists.
How long does an EICR take?
It depends on the number of circuits and access to them. A small flat is a few hours; a large house or a commercial unit with several boards takes considerably longer.
What is an EICR certificate?
The everyday name for the Electrical Installation Condition Report: a periodic inspection and test of the fixed wiring, measured against the current wiring standard and written up on a standard report. It is a snapshot of condition on the day, not a certificate that anything was installed.
What is a EICR certificate, in plain terms?
A condition report on the fixed wiring: the installation inspected and tested, the faults coded by severity, and a date by which it should next be looked at. It is a report on a state, not a certificate that work was done, which is what an EIC is.