15 Sep Electricians Under Pressure

Electricians Under Pressure

Electrician’s business insurance policyholders are facing the pressure of increased costs and late client payments.

According to a survey of electrician’s business insurance holders, around half of public sector clients fail to pay within 30 days. Furthermore, they also have to contend with only 30% of commercial clients paying within 30 days, with some clients taking as many 89 days to pay electrician invoices.

Over 70% of electricians said that they were having to cope with costs that were significantly higher than they were at the beginning of 2017, with 29.51% also experiencing rises in the costs of tender.

The survey was commissioned by the Electrical Contractors Association, the Building Engineering Services Association, trade organisation SELECT and the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation (SNIPEF).

The managing director of SELECT expressed his belief that the survey highlighted the fact that although the trade was in good health, electricians have suffered as a result of some bad practice. Calling SME tradespeople the “lifeblood of the economy”, he said more should be done to protect them.

In Scotland, he said, “The Scottish Government could do more to assist SMEs by enforcing their own powers under the Procurement Act to make sure payments are made on time right down the contractual chain. Changes to the levels at which PBAs are introduced would also help in speeding up payment.”

SELECT has around 1,250 members. Together they perform around 90% of all electrician jobs in Scotland and have a combined turnover of more than £1 billion.

One way that electricians can protect themselves financially is to ensure that they have all the electrician’s business insurance policies in place that they need, whether they are contractors, testing and inspector specialists, installation electricians, maintenance electricians or something else.