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Voltway
NICEIC approved · Part P · 24-hour emergency line

Electrical work that
passes inspection

Domestic and commercial electrical contractors across Tyne and Wear. EICR testing, consumer unit replacement, landlord certificates and fault finding — every job certified and lodged, every time.

24/7
Emergency line
90 min
Average response
6,100+
Certificates issued
18
Years NICEIC approved
A Voltway electrician testing a consumer unit
24-hour emergency line

No power, burning smell, or a tripping RCD that will not reset

A qualified electrician answers this number at any hour. If it is genuinely unsafe we will tell you what to isolate before we arrive.

0800 118 4422
08:00 – 18:00 weekdays
Within 90 minutes
18:00 – 23:00 and weekends
Within 2 hours
23:00 – 08:00
Within 3 hours

We charge an emergency call-out of £120 between 18:00 and 08:00 and at weekends, which is stated before we set off, never added afterwards. If the fault turns out to be your supplier's responsibility rather than your installation, we will tell you and there is no charge.

0
Certificates issued and lodged
0
Average daytime response
0
Years NICEIC approved
0
Notifiable work certified
Certification

Which certificate you actually need

Four documents get confused constantly, usually by people being sold the wrong one. Here is what each is for.

  • EICR

    Electrical Installation Condition Report

    £180
    Valid 5 years
    Who needs it
    Landlords, every five years by law. Homeowners, roughly every ten, or before selling.
    What it covers
    An inspection and test of the existing installation, reporting faults by code. C1 is immediately dangerous, C2 is potentially dangerous, C3 is an improvement recommendation only.
  • EIC

    Electrical Installation Certificate

    Included
    With the work
    Who needs it
    Anyone having new circuits, a rewire or a consumer unit installed.
    What it covers
    Certifies new work against BS 7671. Issued by whoever did the work — if a contractor cannot issue one, they should not be doing the job.
  • MEIWC

    Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate

    £45
    With the work
    Who needs it
    Additions that do not create a new circuit — an extra socket, a replacement fitting.
    What it covers
    Confirms the alteration is safe and tested. Cheaper and quicker than a full EIC, and still notifiable in certain rooms.
  • PAT

    Portable Appliance Testing

    £3.50 per item
    Typically annual
    Who needs it
    Employers, landlords of furnished lets, and anyone hiring out equipment.
    What it covers
    Inspection and testing of plug-in appliances, with a register and labels. Not a legal requirement in itself but the standard way of meeting one.

Prices are for a standard three-bedroom domestic property with a single consumer unit. Larger properties and commercial premises are quoted per circuit after a look at the installation. We lodge every certificate with the scheme provider, and a copy reaches you by email the same day.

Do not wait

What your installation is telling you

Sorted by how quickly it needs dealing with rather than how alarming it sounds.

  • Stop using it

    A burning or fishy smell near sockets or the consumer unit

    Overheating plastic gives off a distinctive fishy smell before anything visibly burns. This is the one genuine emergency on this list.

  • Stop using it

    Scorch marks or discolouration around a socket

    Indicates arcing behind the faceplate, usually from a loose terminal. It will not improve on its own and it is a fire risk.

  • Stop using it

    An RCD that trips and will not reset

    Something on that circuit has a genuine earth fault. Repeated resetting is not a fix and can mask a dangerous condition.

  • Book this week

    A fuse box with rewirable fuses rather than breakers

    Pre-1980s installations often have no RCD protection at all. Not immediately dangerous, but well below current standards and usually flagged as C2 on an EICR.

  • Book this week

    Sockets that feel warm to the touch

    Warmth under load can be normal for a high-draw appliance. Warmth with nothing plugged in is a loose connection.

  • Book this week

    No RCD protection on socket circuits

    Required for new work since 2008. Retrofitting is usually a consumer unit change, and it is the single biggest safety improvement in most older homes.

  • Mention at next visit

    Lights dimming when an appliance starts

    A brief dip when a shower or kettle starts is normal. A sustained one suggests a supply or loading issue worth investigating.

  • Mention at next visit

    Two-pin sockets or cloth-covered cable in the loft

    Genuinely old wiring. Often still functional but rarely compliant, and it dates the installation for an EICR.

If you have anything in the first category, switch that circuit off at the consumer unit and ring us. Isolating a circuit is free, safe, and far cheaper than the alternative.

The rules

What we work to

Four standards decide whether electrical work in a UK home is legal. Any contractor should be able to name all four.

  • BS 7671

    The Wiring Regulations

    The technical standard all fixed electrical installation work is designed and tested against. Currently the 18th edition with amendments.

    18th ed. · Amd 2

  • Part P

    Building Regulations

    Makes most domestic electrical work notifiable to building control. Registered contractors self-certify rather than paying for a separate inspection.

    England & Wales

  • EICR

    Five-yearly landlord duty

    Private landlords in England must hold a satisfactory report renewed every five years, and supply a copy to tenants within 28 days.

    Mandatory since 2020

  • NICEIC

    Scheme membership

    Annual assessment of our work, premises, test equipment calibration and paperwork by an independent assessor. This is what lets us self-certify.

    Approved 18 years

What clients say

Mostly from letting agents

The people who care most about paperwork arriving on time.

“EICRs come back the same day with the codes explained in English. Our previous contractor took a fortnight and a chasing email.”
S
Sarah Nkemelu
Lettings manager, 140 properties
“They quoted a consumer unit change, found the earthing was inadequate, and told us before starting rather than after.”
G
Graham Ellis
Homeowner, Jesmond
“Rang at half eleven on a Sunday with a dead ring main. Someone answered, talked me through isolating it, and arrived inside two hours.”
P
Priya Sandhu
Homeowner, Gosforth
Questions

What people ask about certificates

Mostly landlords, and mostly about codes.

It means at least one C1 or C2 code was recorded. C1 is immediately dangerous and needs making safe on the day. C2 is potentially dangerous and must be remedied for the report to become satisfactory. C3 is an improvement recommendation and does not make a report unsatisfactory on its own.

Yes, and most do. If you would rather not, we will issue the report and you are free to take it elsewhere — there is no obligation and we will not price the remedials into the inspection.

Two to three hours for a typical three-bedroom house. Power is off for parts of it, so plan around anything that must stay running. We will tell you which circuits and for roughly how long before we start.

Someone with authority to grant access does, and we need access to the consumer unit and every room. For tenanted properties we are happy to arrange directly with the tenant.

Yes — "landlord certificate" is the common name for a satisfactory EICR. There is no separate document, and anyone selling you one as an extra is selling you something you already have.

Book an EICR or ring the emergency line

Certificates lodged and emailed the same day. Emergency call-outs answered by a qualified electrician, not a call centre.

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