What Is an EICR? A Complete Guide

An Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) is a formal document produced after a periodic inspection and test of a building's fixed electrical installation. It records the condition of the installation against the requirements of BS 7671 (the IET Wiring Regulations) and identifies anything that is unsafe, deteriorating, or does not meet current standards.

The EICR looks at the fixed installation — consumer units (fuse boards), wiring, accessories, protective devices, earthing and bonding — not portable appliances, which are covered separately by in-service inspection and testing (often called PAT).

What an EICR actually checks

During the inspection a competent person examines and tests the installation for:

• Safety — adequacy of earthing and bonding, and protection against electric shock.
• Damage and deterioration — cabling, enclosures and accessories that have degraded or been damaged.
• Overload and fault protection — that protective devices are correctly rated and will disconnect within required times.
• Non-compliance with BS 7671 — installation methods that no longer meet the current edition of the Wiring Regulations.
• Conditions that may cause danger — such as the absence of RCD protection where it is now required.

Legislation, standards and guidance

It is important to distinguish the three things an EICR touches:

• Legislation is the law — for example the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and, for rented homes in England, the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020.
• BS 7671 is a standard — the recognised benchmark for a safe installation. It is not law in itself, but compliance with it is the accepted way of meeting the legal duty to maintain a safe installation.
• Guidance includes IET Guidance Notes and Codes of Practice that explain how to apply the standard in practice.

Understanding the result

An EICR is reported as either Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory. Observations are classified with codes:

• C1 — Danger present. Risk of injury; immediate action required.
• C2 — Potentially dangerous. Urgent remedial action required.
• C3 — Improvement recommended. Not dangerous, and does not by itself make a report unsatisfactory.
• FI — Further investigation required without delay.

Any C1, C2 or FI makes an installation Unsatisfactory. A report with only C3 items is still Satisfactory.

What happens next

Where an EICR is unsatisfactory, the recorded C1, C2 and FI items should be remediated by a competent person and the work certified. For rented homes in England there are specific timescales for completing remedial work and supplying evidence to the tenant and local authority.

An EICR gives duty holders — landlords, employers, facilities managers and property owners — documented assurance that their installation is safe, and a clear, prioritised list of any work needed to keep it that way.