Part P Electrician in Port Talbot

• Part P consumer information

From 1st January 2005, the Government introduced new legislation, regulating electrical work carried out in homes and gardens. The new rules affect anyone considering electrical work in the home, including DIY enthusiasts.

Known as "Part P", the regulations are aimed at curbing the unacceptable number of deaths, serious injuries and house fires, caused by faulty electrical installations. Every year, 750 people are seriously injured and 10 actually die as a direct result of poor wiring. In 2003, there were 2,336 house fires attributed to faulty installations.

So the new rules are designed to improve home safety, increase consumer confidence in the quality of electrical work and to make it harder for less professional electricians to ply their trade.

The rules mean that all work that falls under Part P must be notified to your local authority's Building Control department. But how do you know if the work you have planned needs to be notified?

You DO NOT need to tell your local authority's Building Control department about:

• repairs, replacements, maintenance work; or
• extra power points or lighting points or other alterations to existing circuits (except in a kitchen or bathroom, or outdoors).

You need to tell them about most other work.

If the work DOES need to be notified, you have two choices;

• Chose a registered, competent electrician who is a member of a competent person scheme. (Remember, if the electrician carries the Kitemark®, they will be a member of the BSI competency scheme and will have been fully assessed by BSI's own inspectors). The work will then be notified to the local authority on your behalf and the electrician can provide you with the legally required certification, confirming the work to be safe in accordance with the new legislation.
• If the work is to be carried out by you, a friend or relative, or an electrician who is not a member of a competency scheme, the local authority's Building Control department must be notified direct. They will then send an Inspector to assess the work and provide you with the certification confirming the work to be safe.

If you have any doubts as to whether the work needs to be notified, or how to be sure that your chosen electrician is competent, contact your local Building Control department. Also, extensive information is available through the website of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), which has driven the new legislation. They have produced a leaflet that further explains the process.

So why is it best to use an installer who is registered with a competent person scheme?

• Members of schemes can deal with all the new rules for you.
• Members are qualified to carry out electrical work
• Members will give you a certificate to confirm their work follows the new rules
• You will not have to pay Building Control charges
• You will have the option of taking out an insurance-backed guarantee covering the work
• You will have access to a formal complaints procedure if you are not happy with the work.

So, look for the Kitemark® on the electrician's van or advertising and you can be confident that all the required reporting will be done for you and that the work will be carried out to the required safety standards.

Part P (England and Wales)