Commercial electrical maintenance in Aberdeen and North East Scotland
We keep business premises across Aberdeen, Peterhead and Aberdeenshire safe and documented on a planned schedule: periodic inspection, emergency lighting tests to BS 5266, board checks, PAT and the repairs those visits turn up. The inspection element starts at £300 + VAT, the rest of the programme is priced after a free survey, and the written quote usually follows within one working day. Call 07304 027013.
Registered in Scotland SC821028. Steven Watt, who leads our team, holds City and Guilds 2391-52 inspection and testing, 2382-22 BS 7671, 2365-03 installations and 2921-34 EV charging.
What a planned maintenance visit covers
Commercial electrical maintenance is a schedule of checks, tests and repairs on a building's fixed wiring and its emergency lighting, each one dated and recorded. We agree the list with you at the survey, set the dates, and turn up on them. Our own team does the work, led by Steven Watt with Callum working alongside him.
Pick the parts you need. A small office might want an annual emergency lighting test and PAT; a warehouse with plant might want all six. Call 07304 027013 and we will suggest a starting list for your building.
How much does commercial electrical maintenance cost?
The inspection element starts at £300 + VAT for a small unit, and labour on any visit is £55 to £75 + VAT an hour. Emergency lighting, PAT and the overall programme depend on how many fittings, appliances and boards you have, so we price them after a free survey and put every line in one written quote.
| Item | Price | What sets it |
|---|---|---|
| Periodic inspection (EICR), small commercial | From £300 + VAT | Number of distribution boards and final circuits, sub mains and access to the boards. |
| Electrician time on a maintenance or repair visit | £55 to £75 + VAT per hour | The work involved, quoted before we start where the task is known. |
| Fault finding, first hour | £80 to £150 + VAT | How quickly the fault can be traced on your installation. |
| Emergency lighting monthly and annual tests | Fixed price after survey | How many fittings, how they are switched for testing, and whether the logbook needs starting from scratch. |
| PAT | Fixed price after survey | How many items, and how many sites or floors they are spread across. |
| Remedial work found on a visit | Quoted per item | Each finding priced on its own so you can approve, defer or decline it. |
Why one quote for the year helps. When the inspection, the emergency lighting test and the PAT fall on the same visit, you pay for one trip and one set of isolations instead of three. Tell us the premises and we will show you the combined figure. Call 07304 027013.
Get your maintenance schedule priced
Free survey, every task listed with its date, and one written price, usually within one working day.
Is commercial electrical maintenance a legal requirement?
Yes. The duty to maintain is written into law, even though no law names a schedule or a certificate. It comes from the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, which apply in Scotland exactly as they do in the rest of Great Britain.
“As may be necessary to prevent danger, all systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, such danger.”
Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, regulation 4(2), legislation.gov.uk
What regulation 4(2) asks of you
It asks for an installation kept safe over time, not a piece of paper. The words “as may be necessary” mean the effort should match the risk: a dusty workshop needs more attention than a quiet office.
Planned maintenance is how a business shows it has done that. When an insurer, a landlord or an inspector asks, the dated records are the evidence.
Emergency lighting has its own duty
In Scotland, regulation 16 of the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 requires the facilities and equipment provided for fire safety to be kept under a suitable system of maintenance and in efficient working order. Emergency lighting on escape routes is one of them.
The person with that duty can be the employer, the owner or whoever controls the premises, and in a shared building the lease usually decides who looks after the common parts.
What we do about it: we put each duty on a dated schedule, carry out the tests, and leave the records your insurer or fire risk assessor will ask for. Whether a commercial EICR is itself compulsory is answered on the commercial EICR page linked above. Call 07304 027013 if a deadline is already looming.
How often should commercial electrical maintenance be done?
Each task has its own clock, and most of the clocks are set by risk rather than by law. The HSE asks for installations to be tested often enough that there is little chance of deterioration leading to danger. Here is who sets each interval.
| Task | How often | Who sets it |
|---|---|---|
| Periodic inspection of the fixed wiring | The date recommended on your last report | The inspector, based on the type of premises, how it is used and the condition found. Your insurer or lease can shorten it. |
| Emergency lighting function test | Every month | BS 5266, the code of practice for emergency lighting. |
| Emergency lighting full duration test | Once a year, for the full rated duration, usually three hours | BS 5266. |
| PAT | Set by risk; the law does not require every item to be tested every year | You, on advice from whoever tests. The HSE says checks should change with the number and severity of faults found. |
| Distribution board checks | Agreed in your schedule, often alongside the emergency lighting visit | The condition of the boards and how hard the building works them. |
| Extra checks after a change | Whenever the layout, use or occupier changes | The change itself. A new partition can leave an escape route unlit. |
Starting from a blank file? Send us whatever reports you hold. We read the recommended dates off them and build the calendar from there, so nothing is tested early just to start a new cycle. Call 07304 027013.
Emergency lighting tests: monthly and annual
BS 5266 sets two routine tests: a short monthly function test and a full duration test once a year. Both are recorded in the emergency lighting logbook, which is the first thing a fire risk assessor asks to see.
- Monthly function test. The normal supply to the emergency fittings is interrupted, usually with a test key switch, and every fitting and exit sign is checked to see that it lights. It takes minutes, which is why it is so often skipped.
- Annual full duration test. The fittings run on battery for their full rated duration and are checked at the end. This is the test that finds batteries which light up for a few minutes and then fade.
- Recharge time. After the annual test the batteries need several hours to recharge, so we agree the timing with you before the day and leave the building with its cover restored.
Failed batteries and lamps are replaced and logged. Where old fluorescent fittings keep failing, replacing them with commercial LED lighting can cut the repeat call outs. Call 07304 027013 to book the next test.
Emergency lighting test overdue?
We test, replace failed batteries and fill in the logbook, from a NICEIC Approved Contractor.
The electrical file we keep up to date for you
A maintenance programme is only as good as the file it leaves behind. The HSE calls it good practice to decide how often checks happen, write it down, and write down the results. After each visit your file should hold:
- The current condition report, with the recommended date of the next inspection written as an actual date.
- The emergency lighting logbook, with every monthly and annual test signed and any failed fitting noted with the date it was fixed.
- The PAT register, listing each item, its result and when it is next due.
- Certificates for any work done: a Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate for repairs, or an Electrical Installation Certificate where a circuit is added or a board replaced.
- Board charts that match the building, updated whenever a circuit changes rather than waiting for the next inspection.
Records survive a change of facilities manager only if they live in one place. We hand every certificate and log entry over together, and we can work from another contractor's history, so your record runs on without a gap. Call 07304 027013 and ask what is missing from yours.
Reactive repairs and fault finding within our hours
When something fails between visits, call us during opening hours and we will book the repair; for a genuine safety concern we aim to attend the same day within those hours. We are open Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm. Customers on a schedule are easier to help quickly, because we already hold the board charts and the history.
Faults we are called to
Tripping circuits and RCDs, often a damaged appliance or water getting into an outdoor fitting.
Dead sockets, failed lighting and damaged accessories in busy areas such as kitchens, workshops and loading bays.
Emergency fittings that fail between tests, replaced and entered in the logbook.
Fault finding is £80 to £150 + VAT for the first hour, and every repair leaves with a certificate for the work.
If it happens when we are closed
We do not run an after hours service. If there is fire or smoke, leave the building and call 999. If something is sparking or hot and it is safe to reach the board, switch that circuit off and keep people away from it.
If the whole building has lost power, call 105 to report it to the local network operator. Then call us on 07304 027013 when we open and we will book the repair.
Remedial work found during maintenance
Every finding is listed with its own price, so you decide what to do and when. Anything that makes a condition report unsatisfactory is priced first, and we say plainly which items can wait for a planned shutdown and which cannot.
- Small repairs on the day. A cracked accessory or a missing blank can often be put right during the visit, with your approval and at the hourly rate above.
- Bigger items quoted separately. Old fuse gear, an overloaded board or a supply that no longer suits the machinery is quoted as its own job. Where the fix is a new board or sub main, that is three phase work we carry out ourselves.
- Changes to the layout. When a refit moves walls or desks, the lighting and power go with it. We cover that under electrical fit outs, and update your schedule and charts at the same time.
Board work needs the power off, so isolations are planned a board or a floor at a time inside our opening hours, with a Saturday morning used where a weekday would stop your business. Call 07304 027013.
Put the whole building on one schedule
Inspection, emergency lighting, PAT and repairs from one NICEIC contractor, with one renewal calendar.
Maintenance programmes across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire
Our base is in Peterhead, and we look after business premises from the Buchan coast down to the city. Maintenance works best when the same team keeps coming back, so we keep programmes within the area we can reach on the agreed dates.
Aberdeen
Offices, shops, hospitality and industrial units across the city. For installations, fit outs and everything else we do for city businesses, see our commercial electrician in Aberdeen page.
Peterhead and the Aberdeenshire towns
Processing units, workshops and shops near our base are covered by our commercial electricians in Peterhead. Further afield we have pages for commercial electricians in Westhill, commercial electricians in Ellon and the commercial electrician in Fraserburgh.
Checks to run on any maintenance contractor
A maintenance contractor ends up holding your compliance history. Each of ours can be confirmed on a public register.
Commercial electrical maintenance questions
If yours is not here, call 07304 027013 during opening hours.
What is included in commercial electrical maintenance?
A planned programme usually covers periodic inspection and testing of the fixed wiring, the monthly and annual emergency lighting tests to BS 5266, distribution board checks, portable appliance testing and the remedial work those visits find, with every result recorded. We agree which parts your building needs at a free survey.
Is electrical maintenance a legal requirement for businesses in Scotland?
Yes. Regulation 4(2) of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 requires electrical systems to be maintained so as to prevent danger, so far as is reasonably practicable, and it applies in Scotland. Regulation 16 of the Fire Safety (Scotland) Regulations 2006 adds a duty to keep fire safety equipment such as emergency lighting maintained. Neither sets a fixed schedule, so the programme is built around the risk.
How much does commercial electrical maintenance cost?
Our commercial periodic inspection starts at £300 + VAT for a small unit, electrician time is £55 to £75 + VAT an hour, and fault finding is £80 to £150 + VAT for the first hour. Emergency lighting tests, PAT and the full programme depend on the number of fittings, items and boards, so we price them after a free survey in one written quote.
How often should emergency lighting be tested?
BS 5266 sets a short function test every month and a full duration test once a year, usually three hours, with both recorded in the emergency lighting logbook. We carry out both tests, replace failed batteries and lamps, and fill in the logbook.
Does PAT testing have to be done every year?
No. The HSE says the law does not require every portable appliance to be tested every year. How often depends on the type of equipment and how it is used, so a kettle in a quiet office and a drill on a building site get very different intervals. We test, label and record each item and suggest the next date based on what we find.
Do you offer reactive repairs between planned visits?
Yes, within our opening hours: Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm. For a genuine safety concern we aim to attend the same day within those hours. We do not run an after hours service.
Do we have to close the building while you work?
Usually not. Testing at a board needs those circuits switched off, so we isolate one board or one floor at a time in an order agreed with you. Where a full shutdown cannot be avoided, we plan it for a Saturday morning between 9am and 1pm.
Can you take over from our previous maintenance contractor?
Yes. Send us the existing reports, logbooks and registers. We work from the dates already set, tell you where the gaps are, and continue the record rather than starting it again.
Does Part P apply to commercial electrical work in Scotland?
No. Part P is a building regulation for England and Wales and has never applied in Scotland, and there is no Building Control notification here. Where electrical work needs a building warrant, it comes from Aberdeen City Council for premises in the city or Aberdeenshire Council for the shire.
Book a free maintenance survey
Call 07304 027013 or use the form. Tell us the premises, what it is used for and which records you already hold. We will walk the building, list the tasks with their dates and send one fixed price in writing, usually within one working day. Periodic inspection from £300 + VAT, with remedials always priced separately.
Request a maintenance quote
Faithful Spark Electricians Ltd, 17 Thomson Road, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, AB42 3FJ. Registered in Scotland SC821028. VAT 503 6560 13. NICEIC Approved Contractor 620239. TrustMark 4205123. OZEV EVHS/WCS14254. £2M public liability. Certificates issued to BS 7671:2018+A4:2026. Prices exclude VAT and were correct at October 2026. Last updated 6 October 2026.