Electrical Testing in Worthing: Does Your Home Need an EICR?

What an electrical test actually involves

An EICR is a check of your fixed wiring: the consumer unit (fuse box), the cables running through walls and floors, sockets, switches, light fittings and any hardwired appliances such as an electric shower or cooker. It doesn't cover plug-in items like kettles or lamps. That's a separate job called PAT testing.

The electrician does a visual inspection first, then tests each circuit with specialist instruments. They measure insulation resistance, earth continuity and how quickly your RCDs trip. For a typical two or three bedroom house in Broadwater, Tarring or Goring, expect it to take three to four hours. The power will go off circuit by circuit while they work, so it helps to save your work and not have the washing machine halfway through a cycle.

How often Worthing homes need one

How often depends on who lives in the property and how it's used. These are the usual intervals:

• Owner occupied homes: every 10 years, or when you move in if the seller can't show a recent report
• Privately rented homes: every 5 years by law, with a copy given to tenants and available to Adur and Worthing Councils if they ask
• Houses in multiple occupation: every 5 years, and it forms part of HMO licensing
• Before a sale or purchase, or before major work such as a kitchen refit, extension or loft conversion
• After flooding, a fire or any sign of water getting in

Why local homes are worth checking

A lot of Worthing's housing is 1930s semis and Victorian or Edwardian terraces around the town centre and Heene. Many have been rewired once, often in the 1970s or 80s, and have been added to piecemeal since. The problems we tend to find are old fuse boxes with no RCD protection, sockets added to the wrong circuits, and loft or garage extensions wired by whoever happened to be around.

Being on the coast matters too. Salty air along the seafront and in the Marine Parade flats corrodes outdoor lights, garden sockets and external meter boxes faster than it would further inland. If your home is near the sea, have external fittings checked more often than the 10 year guideline.

Book a test sooner if you notice any of these:

• Breakers or fuses that keep tripping or blowing
• Scorch marks, buzzing or warm sockets and switches
• Rubber or fabric covered cables, or a wooden backed fuse board
• Lights that flicker when appliances switch on

Understanding your report and codes

The report ends up rated either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Any faults are given a code: C1 means danger present and it needs fixing immediately, usually on the spot. C2 means potentially dangerous and needs urgent work. FI means further investigation is needed. Any C1, C2 or FI result makes the report unsatisfactory. C3 means improvement recommended. It's advice rather than a fail.

For landlords, any remedial work flagged as C1, C2 or FI has to be done within 28 days, or sooner if the report says so, and you need written confirmation that it's been done. Homeowners have no legal deadline, but C1 and C2 items are real safety risks and shouldn't be left.

What it costs and what affects the price

Around Worthing, an EICR on a one or two bedroom flat typically costs somewhere between £120 and £200. A three or four bedroom house is more likely to be £180 to £300. The final price depends on how many circuits you have, whether there's a second consumer unit for a garage or outbuilding, and how easy it is to get to the fuse board and loft.

Remedial work is priced separately. Some fixes cost very little, like replacing a cracked socket. Others are bigger jobs, like a new consumer unit, which usually runs to several hundred pounds. A good electrician will explain each code and tell you what's urgent and what can wait, rather than handing you one big quote. Always check that whoever you use is registered with a recognised competent person scheme, and ask to see the full report, not just a certificate.

Published 25 September 2026