NICEIC Certificates

One of the requirements for becoming NICEIC approved is that contractors must issue certificates to confirm that all work has been carried out in accordance with the National Standard BS 7671.

The NICEIC version of each certificate bears a traceable serial number, which gives confidence and accountability for the recipients. The four main certificates that you can be issued with are:

The Electrical Installation Certificate
provides written confirmation that the electrical installation work to which it relates has been designed, constructed, and inspected and tested in accordance with BS 7671.

The Domestic Electrical Installation Certificate
is intended only for a single dwelling. It includes all the items in the Electrical Installation Certificate that are relevant to a typical domestic installation.

The Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate
is intended to be used only where a minor alteration or addition has been made to an existing installation, which does not involve the provision of a new circuit.

The Periodic Inspection Report for an Electrical Installation
is used to report on the safety condition of an existing installation. Click for more information on Periodic Inspection Reports (PIRs). a specimen certificate

The Domestic Electrical Installation Periodic Inspection Report
is used to report on the safety condition of an existing installation in a domestic situation.

The specimen certificates you can download here are red serially-numbered versions, which only NICEIC Approved Contractors are authorized to issue. Non-approved electrical contractors seeking registration with the NICEIC will issue you with GREEN certificates.

Certificates and reports are valuable documents. They should be kept in a safe place and be shown to any person inspecting or carrying out further work on the electrical installation in the future. If you vacate the property, the certificate or report will demonstrate to the new user that the installation complied with the requirements of the national electrical safety standard at the time the certificate was issued.

There are certain key items to look for which are common to the four main NICEIC forms:

The certificate or form should be marked `Original´. The duplicate should be held by the contractor.
The form should not be a photocopy (original NICEIC certificates are printed in red and black).
The documents must be signed by a competent person, on behalf of the contractor, and in general there should be no blank boxes.
The Approved Contractor's NICEIC enrolment number should be provided on the certificate or form.
Each certificate bears a traceable serial number, as this gives confidence and accountability for the recipients.
If there is any doubt about the authenticity of an NICEIC certificate or report, the contractor's details can be confirmed by checking the Roll of Approved Contractors on the niceic website.

An electrical installation certificate:
• is a declaration of electrical safety which should be issued before an installation is put into service
• is not intended to be issued to confirm the completion of a contract
• should not be withheld for contractual reasons, especially if the electrical installation has been made available for use.

If your electrical contractor fails to give you an appropriate certificate or report, ask for one. The issuing of an appropriate certificate or report is a requirement for any work carried out in accordance with the National Standard for the safety of electrical installations. The certificate or report should be fully completed and signed. The NICEIC makes standard forms available to both Approved Contractors and non-approved contractors for this purpose.