If you’re looking for an electrician in Fishponds, we’re a few minutes up the road: Shortman Electrical is a small, owner-run firm based in Downend, and Fishponds is one of the areas we work in most often. As a guide, an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report, the standard electrical safety inspection) costs £150–£250 on a typical Fishponds home, a fuse board (consumer unit) replacement £450–£700, and an extra double socket starts from around £80. There’s a fuller price table below, and every job gets a clear price agreed up front before we start.
Need it sorted? Get a free fixed-price quote or call Mark on 07973 782 821 — based in Downend, minutes from Fishponds. No call-out charge for quotes, and no obligation.
What we do for Fishponds homes
Mark handles the full range of domestic electrical work, and no job is too small:
- Fuse board (consumer unit) upgrades with RCBOs (circuit breakers with built-in shock protection) and surge protection
- Full and partial rewires
- Extra sockets and dedicated circuits
- Kitchen and bathroom electrics, including electric showers, IP-rated (water-protected, safe for bathroom use) lighting and extractor fans
- Lighting: downlights, LED upgrades, outdoor and PIR (motion-sensor) security lights, smart lighting
- EICRs, landlord certificates and mains-interlinked smoke, heat and CO alarms
- Fault finding and repairs, with 24/7 emergency call-out
- EV charger installation
All work is certified to BS 7671, the current Wiring Regulations, and we’re fully insured with comprehensive public liability cover. Quotes are free, and we tidy up after ourselves.
The houses in Fishponds, and what we find inside them
Fishponds is mostly Victorian and Edwardian terraces, especially on the streets either side of Fishponds Road, with 1930s semis on the roads out towards Oldbury Court. They’re solid, well-loved houses, but a lot of them are running on electrics that are two or three owners out of date.
Three things come up again and again:
Dated fuse boards. Plenty of Fishponds terraces still have old rewireable fuse boxes, some on their original wooden backboards. These give no RCD (residual current device) protection — the safety device designed to cut the power fast enough to prevent a fatal shock. An old fuse box is not automatically illegal, but it will be flagged on any inspection; we’ve covered the detail in is an old fuse box illegal?. A modern replacement typically costs £450–£700, and our fuse board replacement cost guide breaks that down.
No earth bonding. In unmodernised homes we often find no main protective bonding to the gas and water pipework. Bonding keeps metal pipes at a safe voltage if a fault develops. It is usually a quick, inexpensive fix, and it’s one of the first things an inspection looks for.
Old wiring. Pre-war terraces sometimes still have rubber-insulated cable hiding on lighting circuits, and older lighting circuits frequently have no earth at all, which rules out metal light fittings and switches. Where the wiring is genuinely past it, a rewire is the honest answer. Our house rewire cost guide explains what the job involves, how long it takes and what it costs.
None of this means a Fishponds house is a money pit. It does mean the electrics are worth checking properly before you buy, renovate or let one out. Electrical Safety First has good plain-English guidance on the warning signs.
What an electrician in Fishponds charges: price guide
These are typical 2026 ranges for the Bristol area, as a guide rather than a quote:
| Job | Typical price (2026) |
|---|---|
| EICR, 1–3 bed home | £150–£250 |
| Fuse board (consumer unit) replacement | £450–£700 |
| Full rewire, 3-bed house | £4,000–£8,000 |
| Partial rewire | £1,000–£3,000 |
| New double socket on an existing circuit | £80–£150 |
| Mains-interlinked smoke and heat alarms | £70–£120 per alarm fitted |
| Emergency call-out | £80–£120 for the first hour |
Every house is different. A Victorian terrace with solid walls and original lath-and-plaster ceilings takes more care than a 1930s semi with roomy floor voids, and that shows in the price. So we quote fixed prices after seeing the job, or good photos of it, and the number you agree is the number you pay. No hidden extras.
Fishponds landlords and EICRs
Fishponds has a busy rental market, and landlord work makes up a good share of what we do here. If you let a property in England, you must hold a satisfactory EICR at least every five years under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020, and councils can impose civil penalties of up to £40,000 per breach. The full rules, deadlines and what counts as “satisfactory” are in our landlord EICR guide.
We do fixed-price EICRs with reports in plain English: what each code means, what actually has to be fixed for a satisfactory result, and a price to fix it. If remedial work is needed, one firm handles the lot. There’s more detail on our EICR service in Fishponds.
Why use an electrician based minutes from Fishponds
We’re in Downend, which sits right next to Fishponds, and that matters more than people think:
- No long travel time quietly built into your price
- Easy for us to call round, see the job and give a free fixed quote
- Simple to pop back if anything needs a second look
- For genuine emergencies, we’re minutes away, day or night
Fishponds, Downend and the rest of BS16 make up the bulk of our week, and we cover Bristol more widely too. If you’re just over the border, our Downend electrician guide covers that patch.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an electrician charge per hour in Fishponds?
Typical hourly rates in the Bristol area are £40–£60, with day rates around £250–£350. For most work we prefer to give a fixed price rather than run the clock, so you know the full cost before we start. Small jobs are often cheaper than people expect, so it’s always worth asking.
Do you charge a call-out fee in Fishponds?
Not for quotes. We’ll come out, look at the job and give you a fixed price for free, with no obligation. For genuine emergencies — a burning smell, a dead fuse board, power off and it won’t reset — we run a 24/7 call-out service, typically £80–£120 for the first hour.
My house still has red and black wiring. Does it need a rewire?
Not necessarily. Red and black cable colours just mean the wiring went in before 2006, and plenty of it is still in sound condition. What matters is the state of the insulation, whether circuits are properly earthed, and what’s protecting them at the fuse board. An EICR answers that with test results rather than guesswork.
Are you a Fishponds electrician or a Downend one?
Both, in practice. We’re based in Downend, which borders Fishponds, so travel takes minutes. If you’re searching for an electrician in Fishponds, Bristol who is genuinely local rather than covering half the West Country, that’s us — most days we’re already working somewhere in BS16.
How long does an EICR take on a Fishponds terrace?
Usually two to four hours for a typical two or three bed terrace, depending on the number of circuits and how accessible the fuse board is. You’ll need the power off circuit by circuit while we test. If you have a tenancy deadline, tell us the date and we’ll be straight with you about whether we can meet it.
Ready to get it sorted? Request your free fixed-price quote or call or WhatsApp Mark on 07973 782 821. Clear price up front, no hidden extras, and no job too small — your local electrician, minutes from Fishponds.