What is the JIB hourly rate for an electrician in 2026?

From January 2026 the JIB standard rate for a qualified Electrician is £18.38 an hour, an Approved Electrician £20.08, and a Technician £22.70, based on a 37.5-hour week. Those figures rose 3.95% in the first year of the 2026 to 2028 agreement, and London work adds roughly £2.20 to £2.77 an hour on top.

What is the difference between JIB rates and what I charge customers?

JIB rates are the gross wage an employed electrician earns, so they are a floor, not a price list. When you are self-employed your charge-out rate has to cover your own wage plus van, tools, insurance, certification, downtime between jobs, and the hours you spend quoting and chasing invoices in the evening. That is why a self-employed electrician charges far more per hour than the JIB wage rate, and why pricing off the JIB figure alone leaves money on the table.

How much should a self-employed electrician charge per hour in the UK?

Checkatrade puts the UK average at £45 to £60 an hour, rising to £80 to £100 an hour for emergency or out-of-hours work, with London and the South East typically at the higher end. Many price common jobs at a fixed rate instead, for example £350 to £800 for a consumer unit or £100 to £250 for an EICR, which is clearer for the customer and protects your margin on the work you are quicker at.

How much does a self-employed electrician make in the UK?

Take-home depends on how many chargeable hours you actually bill, not your headline rate. An electrician charging £55 an hour who bills 25 to 30 hours a week after travel, quoting, and admin will gross roughly £70,000 to £85,000 before costs, and the biggest leak is unbilled hours: time spent quoting, chasing payment, and doing paperwork instead of being on the tools.

What are the SJIB rates in Scotland?

The SJIB is the Scottish equivalent of the JIB and sets its own graded rates for electricians in Scotland, structured in a similar way by grade and updated annually. Check the current SJIB National Working Rules for the exact figures for your grade, as they are set separately from the JIB rates above.

Electrician Pricing Guide 2026

Sol WrightCo-founder, Tradehand

Published 6 May 2026Updated 19 August 2026

What electricians earn and charge across the UK in 2026. The JIB pay scale sets what an employed electrician earns, but your self-employed charge-out rate has to cover a lot more, so this guide covers both, region by region and job by job, so you can price confidently, protect your margins, and stop leaving money on the table.

What's included

JIB hourly rates for 2026 by grade (Improver, Electrician, Approved, Technician)
How employed JIB rates differ from what you charge as self-employed
Self-employed charge-out rates: national average and the London/South East premium
Common job prices: consumer unit, EICR, sockets, EV chargers
Materials pricing: how to apply the right margin
Deposit structure guidance (when and how much to charge)
Emergency and out-of-hours call-out premium guidance
How to price competitively without underselling

Rates preview

JIB rates 2026 (employed electricians)

Gross hourly wage under the JIB National Standard Rates effective 5 January 2026, on a standard 37.5-hour week. These are the employed wage floor, not what you charge a customer.

Grade	Hourly rate	Annual (approx)
Electrical Improver	£16.54/hr	~£32,253/yr
Electrician	£18.38/hr	~£35,841/yr
Approved Electrician	£20.08/hr	~£39,156/yr
Technician	£22.70/hr	~£44,265/yr

What to charge as self-employed

Your charge-out rate covers your wage plus van, tools, insurance, certification, downtime, and the hours you spend quoting and chasing invoices. That is why it sits well above the JIB wage rate.

Region	Charge-out rate	What moves it
National average	£45 to £60/hr	Checkatrade's UK-wide average is £50/hr, rising to £80 to £100/hr for emergency, evening, weekend or very small call-out jobs once travel time and minimum charges are factored in.
London & South East	£50 to £60/hr	Rates can rise to around £100/hr in London for emergency, evening, weekend or small call-out jobs. Checkatrade doesn't publish a separate Midlands or North figure; expect rates to sit at or below the national average outside London and the South East.

Common job prices

Fixed prices for the jobs that come up most, so you can sanity-check your own quote against the market.

Job	Typical price	Detail
Consumer unit replacement	£350 to £800	Typical cost for a 10-way RCBO unit is around £485.
EICR inspection	£100 to £250	Average around £200. Commercial EICRs price per circuit instead, typically £30 to £50 each.
New socket installation	£100 to £200	Average around £150, including labour.
EV charger installation	~£1,000	Or from £500 with the government grant. Costs rise with trenching or a consumer unit upgrade.

Electrician Pricing Guide 2026

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Sources

Every figure on this page is attributed to the sources below, checked 19 August 2026.