Quick answer
Most electricians in Limerick charge a call-out of €90 to €150, or €60 to €90 an hour. Larger jobs are priced as a whole rather than by the hour: a fuse board upgrade typically runs €350 to €600, an EV charger €800 to €1,400 before the SEAI grant, and a full house rewire €5,000 to €9,000.
| Job | Guide price | Priced as |
|---|---|---|
| Call-out charge | €90–€150 | Fixed, first hour usually included |
| Hourly rate after call-out | €60–€90 | Hourly |
| Extra socket or light fitting | €80–€180 | Per point |
| Periodic inspection report (EICR) | €150–€300 | Fixed, by property size |
| Fuse board / consumer unit upgrade | €350–€600 | Fixed |
| EV charger installation | €800–€1,400 | Fixed, less €300 SEAI grant |
| Partial rewire | €2,000–€4,500 | Fixed, after survey |
| Full house rewire | €5,000–€9,000 | Fixed, after survey |
Call-out charges and hourly rates
A call-out of €90 to €150 covers travel and the first hour on site. For a dead socket or a tripping breaker, that is often the whole bill. Rates rise for evenings, weekends and genuine emergencies, and an electrician who comes out at ten on a Sunday is entitled to charge for it.
What pushes it to the top of the range
Distance is the main one. A job in the city costs less to attend than one out past Abbeyfeale, simply because of the drive. Urgency is the other. If you can wait until Thursday, say so, because an electrician who can slot you into an existing run in your area will price it more keenly than one dropping everything.
Why some faults cost more than the repair
Fault-finding is the one job where the diagnosis is the work. Tracing an intermittent fault through an old installation can take hours, and the fix at the end is often a €4 part. This is worth understanding before you get the bill: you are paying for the tracing, not the component.
Fuse board and consumer unit upgrades: €350 to €600
The single most common job in Limerick housing built between the seventies and the nineties. Those boards were specified for a house with an immersion, a cooker and a handful of sockets. They are now running a shower, a dishwasher, a tumble dryer and a home office.
The upgrade replaces the old board with RCBO protection on each circuit, so a fault on one circuit no longer takes out the whole house, plus surge protection. It is typically a single day with power restored the same evening, and it includes the Completion Certificate.
What adds to the price
Three things, in order of how often they come up. The existing board being in an awkward position, such as inside a fitted press or high in a hall. The earthing arrangement needing to be brought up to standard, which is common in older properties. And circuits that fail testing once the board is off, which have to be sorted before the new board can be certified. A good contractor flags the risk of all three at the survey rather than discovering them on the day.
House rewiring: €5,000 to €9,000
A full rewire is the biggest domestic electrical job there is, and the range is wide because the houses are wide-ranging. A three-bed semi in a city estate sits near the bottom. A larger period property with solid walls, high ceilings and previous extensions sits at the top, sometimes beyond it.
Nobody can quote a rewire over the phone. Anyone who does is either padding to protect themselves or quoting low and planning to revise it once the walls are open. Insist on a survey, then a written itemised price.
What drives the number
Access above all. Suspended timber floors and an accessible attic make a rewire dramatically cheaper than solid floors and a converted attic, because the cable routes already exist. Wall construction matters next: chasing solid masonry is slow work. Then the number of points you want, which is where most people underestimate — modern expectations run to far more sockets than a 1975 spec allowed.
Partial rewires
If the installation is sound but one area has failed, a partial rewire at €2,000 to €4,500 is often the sensible answer. Kitchens are the usual candidate, because that is where load has grown most.
Making good
Ask explicitly whether the price includes plastering and decorating after the chasing. Many quotes cover first-fix plastering only, leaving you to paint. Neither approach is wrong, but comparing a quote that includes it against one that does not is how people end up thinking an electrician was expensive.
EV charger installation: €800 to €1,400, less the SEAI grant
An SEAI grant of up to €300 is available towards a home charge point, which comes off the installed cost. A straightforward installation on a house with a modern board and the parking beside the meter lands near the bottom of the range.
The load assessment is the bit that catches people
Before a 7kW charger can be signed off, the supply and the board have to take it. A house already running an electric shower and an immersion on an older single-phase supply may need board work first. That is not an upsell, it is the reason the installation can be certified, and it is far better found at quote stage than on the day.
What else the price should include
The earthing arrangement, which often means an earth rod, the cable run from board to charge point, the ESB Networks notification, and the SEAI grant paperwork. Get all of that confirmed in one figure rather than as a base price with extras.
Periodic inspection reports: €150 to €300
Usually needed by landlords, by sellers during a sale, and occasionally by insurers after a claim. Price scales with the number of circuits, so a large house costs more than an apartment.
A periodic inspection report is a condition assessment of an existing installation. It is a different document to a Completion Certificate, which certifies new work. Both can only be issued by a registered contractor, and that is worth checking before you book, because a report from an unregistered person is worth nothing to the party asking for it.
How to compare quotes properly
Three quotes on the same scope is the standard advice and it is right, but only if the scope really is the same. Most of the confusion in electrical pricing comes from comparing different jobs.
Ask every contractor the same four questions
Is certification included in the price, or added afterwards. Does the price cover making good after chasing. Is this a fixed price or an estimate that can move. And what specifically would cause it to move. A contractor who answers all four in writing is usually the one to go with, even at a slightly higher number.
The cheapest quote is often the one that grows
An unusually low price on a rewire or a board upgrade generally means something has been left out of the scope rather than that someone is being generous. Ask what is excluded before assuming you have found a bargain.
Get a price for your job
Send the job, your eircode and a photo of the fuse board. That is usually enough to get a real figure rather than a range, without paying a call-out to find out.
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