Electricians - Certificates needed to reconnect power?

Kona*

Kona*

Kona*

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29 Dec 2003
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Newcastle upon Tyne
Right... I've just bought a house that was repossessed in May this year, the house was "de-energized" by EDF Energy in June. I called them up to get the juice put back on and they said I needed proof of ownership for the house so I faxed them proof and then they said I needed an "iCert" (Installation Certificate) from an NIC approved electrician... I've called around a few electricians and none of them will give me an installation certificate unless they installed the cables, what they can do is give me a Periodic Inspection Report which EDF say isn't sufficient. EDF are really the most unhelpful bunch of people I have ever talked to - I'm having a nightmare getting the gas put back on too.

Anyway, my question to the electricians on these forums, how do I go about getting an "iCert" if nobody will give me one - I'm at my wits end now as we won't be able to have the gas turned on before Christmas and we are relying on the electricity being turned on to heat the house! I can foresee a cold winter ahead.

Thanks,

Craig
 
you are probably just ringing the wrong electricians, i just read a page from a GOV site to do with flooding that says just get any "registered electrician" to come and check the property out, he/she will then give you an iCert to give to the energy supplier.

maybe just keep trying a few different electricians until you find one that will do it.
 
kevmeister said:
you are probably just ringing the wrong electricians, i just read a page from a GOV site to do with flooding that says just get any "registered electrician" to come and check the property out, he/she will then give you an iCert to give to the energy supplier.

maybe just keep trying a few different electricians until you find one that will do it.
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Apparently EDF will only accept an iCert from an NIC EIC registered electrician and I've spoke to 20+ electricians (no joke, I really have called 20+), all of which won't give me one unless they installed the cables :(
 
Kona* said:
Apparently EDF will only accept an iCert from an NIC EIC registered electrician and I've spoke to 20+ electricians (no joke, I really have called 20+), all of which won't give me one unless they installed the cables :(
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Can you blame them? Anything that goes wrong after they give you that iCert is on their backs!

How old is the house?

Why does it have to be EDF? Will a different provider be satisfied with the Periodic Inspection Report you can get?
 
Mr. Anderson said:
Can you blame them? Anything that goes wrong after they give you that iCert is on their backs!

How old is the house?
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Nope, I can't blame them at all - it's not their fault that EDF are being unreasonable. I've checked around and a PIR (Periodic Inspection Report) checks everything that's needed to make sure the wiring is safe, the only way to get an iCert (so it seems) is to get the house rewired which I'm really not prepared to do. There must be a way around this, is there not a governing body who I can contact that I can actually reason with?

One of the electricians I spoke to said I should have just got someone to put a fuse in the mains supply and claimed it was there when I moved in - I can't believe that's all that stopping me getting power.

The house was built in 1920 but it has a reasonably new (in the past 15 years) consumer unit.

Edit: It has to be EDF who put the juice back on as they de-energized the property - I've spoke to British Gas who have confirmed this too.

Edit 2: What's annoying me most is that nothing to do with the internal wiring has changed since they last supplied electricity to the property - I don't understand why they can't just turn it back on if they were happy with the wiring 7 months ago.
 
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whitecrook said:
Just change your energy supplier?
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I can't - that's the problem. EDF de-energized the house and only EDF can put the fuse back in - as I said above I spoke to British Gas who confirmed this.

Wicksta said:
Sounds like you're not the only one who has had this from EDF:

http://www.screwfix.com/talk/thread.jspa?threadID=49394

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/forum1/help-edf-are-being-unreal-t23713.html
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Aye, after a quick google of "EDF iCert" I got those two links, no real resolution though :(
 
Whoever you're speaking to at EDF is stupid.
You can't get any more than a PIR from a competent, registered electrician and if they've said it has to be someone registered with NICIEC or it's not sufficient then they don't know what they're talking about.
An installation certifcate is only needed if there's been any new fixed wiring, which there hasn't.
An approved contractor from any of these schemes can do a PIR for you and provide the necessary documentation.

I'd speak to one of the scheme providers (Elecsa are really helpful) and they should be able to point you in the right direction :)
 
Hi mate. Have you tried Alex Scullion electrical group? We Won't give you a installation cert but can do the periodic.. EDF are talking out of their back sides on this mate. A Full PIR will flag up any problems and will show the installation is safe/unsafe. (I do them for a living).
 
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Well my particular electrician mate suggested that if they really won't connect it without an icert then get a NICEIC electrician to come around and upgrade the consumer unit to a 17th edition one as they have to test all the cables and write the results on an installation certificate which EDF will be happy with. Obviously this is a lot cheaper than rewiring the whole place but if there are any problems they will have to be corrected. He said it's unlikely you'll get a spark to certify someone else's work (as you've found) but if you pay them to do something you might get better luck. ;)

Sounds like a bit of a ballache to me!

He suggested looking here.

http://www.niceic.org.uk/en/findacontractor/

He'd have charged you about £800 by the way with the board included, but that is London prices. ;)

*please note to other electricians I'm paraphrasing a lot of what my mate said to feel free to add any comments
 
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The thing is he doesn't need an installation certificate under any circumstances in this case as no installations have been carried out so EDF are out of order.
A full PIR will give them exactly what they need ie confirmation that the installation is safe and if it isn't the leccy will put it right for him.
Regulations are in no way retrospective so it doesn't have to conform to any edition of the wiring regulations either by the way :)
 
Thanks for all of the replies - I feel like I am getting somewhere now. I've spoke to EDF and got through to someone marginally more helpful than the previous people, I explained my situation and what I had been told about the iCert so they got hold of a manager for me, the manager has confirmed (and made a note on my account) that a PIR will be sufficient but they stressed that they usually do have to have an iCert for re-energizing a property - I couldn't be bothered to argue about it so I left it at that.

I've also been in touch with an electrician who will come out tomorrow (!) and do a PIR for me, it's going to cost £120 though (not that I'm bothered about £120, I just want electricity!). Sorry ZG002, I didn't see your reply until I had arranged with the electrician to come out - I've got your company's contact details saved in my phone for any future work though (you may be in for a full re-wire in the future :p).

I'll let you lot know what EDF say when I fax them the PIR (if the property passes of course :)) - once again, thank you for all the help.

Craig
 
Not even sure why they need a Cert. As far as they are concerned all their responsibility ends at the fuse or isolator if one is fitted. The internal installation has nothing to do with them.

What has been said above is the cheapest way to get a icert as we do need to issue one for a consumer unit change. Electricians tend not to cover the who installation on that cert though! (There is a box on the front page asking what part of the installation the cert covers) For that you need a periodic. I'm really confused as to why they are asking for a icert.

Edit: Glad you have them sorted mate. Good luck on the PIR and any remedial work required :)
 
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£120 is a fair price for a PIR, is he registered here?
The annoying thing is that he'll have to pop a fuse in to energize the system if he's going to do the full tests then take it out again afterwards and you'll have to wait for EDF to come round and redo it and seal it again, daft eh? :p

ZG002 said:
Not even sure why they need a Cert. As far as they are concerned all their responsibility ends at the fuse or isolator if one is fitted. The internal installation has nothing to do with them.

What has been said above is the cheapest way to get a icert as we do need to issue one for a consumer unit change. Electricians tend not to cover the who installation on that cert though! (There is a box on the front page asking what part of the installation the cert covers) For that you need a periodic. I'm really confused as to why they are asking for a icert.
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I don't think the person he spoke to originally actually understands the situation, under no circumstances would he need an installation certificate in his situation.
 
JohnnyG said:
£120 is a fair price for a PIR, is he registered here?
The annoying thing is that he'll have to pop a fuse in to energize the system if he's going to do the full tests then take it out again afterwards and you'll have to wait for EDF to come round and redo it and seal it again, daft eh? :p
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Yup he is listed on there - I was quoted between £85 and £210 for a PIR, the guy who could do it for £85 had a three week waiting time which unfortunately is too long to wait, the next price up was £120 and as I say he can do it tomorrow :) It's madness that he has to put a fuse in there to do the test, EDF have really got my back up over this - I never thought getting power connected was such a hassle! Hopefully everything will be sorted tomorrow though.
 
I doubt very much that the guy who does the PIR will be putting in a service fuse in order to do live tests (unlikely to carry them on the van, and shouldn't be touching it anyway!)

Live tests would simply be put down as a limitation, though perhaps you can come up with a deal with him to come back after te DNO has reengeried to complete them, so that you end up with a less limited certificate (if you car about having your paperwork in order)
 
I bought a repossessed house recently where all the utilities we're disconnected. All I did was turn the main stopcock, the valve on the mains gas inlet and switch the electricity on at the main consumer unit and everything was working again. The previous owners we're with e.on, but we're now with edf. Without phisically cutting the cables I can't see how they can stop you using power?
 
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