Electrical Indemnity Insurance: Electricians and Sales

Electrical indemnity insurance, which means two different things depending on who asked

Electrical indemnity insurance means one of two things and the requester decides which. An electrician or their client usually means professional indemnity for design, specification and certification work. A conveyancer usually means a legal indemnity policy over electrical work done at a property without the certificate to prove it.

Professional indemnity insurance for electricians and electrical contractors

The professional indemnity insurance electricians need answers for design and certification work: it is needed where the electrician designs an installation, specifies equipment, issues a condition report or certificate, or advises on compliance. The loss is financial: a client who relied on a certificate, a specification that had to be redone, a report a buyer acted on. Installing to somebody else's design usually needs only public liability.

The indemnity policy for electrical work without a certificate

Bought once at a sale where electrical work was done without the certification that should accompany it, covering the risk that the local authority takes enforcement action or that the defect causes a loss. It is a property policy, not a trade one, it is inexpensive, and it passes with the house.

Which one you have been asked for

If a client, a contractor or a scheme provider asked, it is professional indemnity. If a conveyancer or a buyer's solicitor asked during a sale, it is the legal indemnity. The two are bought from different places and neither substitutes for the other.

Questions people ask about electrical indemnity insurance

Do electricians need professional indemnity insurance?

Where they design, specify, certify or advise, yes, because the loss a client suffers from relying on that work is financial. Installing to somebody else's design usually needs only public liability, and the conveyancing indemnity is a property policy bought at a sale.

Is a missing certificate an insurance problem?

At a sale it is usually solved with a legal indemnity policy. For the electrician who should have issued it, it is a professional question rather than an insurance one.

Do I need professional indemnity to install?

Usually not, where you install to somebody else's design. Public liability is the cover for that work.

Do electrical engineers need professional indemnity insurance?

An electrical engineer who designs installations, specifies equipment, issues condition reports or advises on compliance carries the financial exposure professional indemnity answers for. Public liability covers injury and damage, not a client's loss from relying on a design or a report.