FCA authorised · FRN 724952 0117 325 0027Quote & buy →
Consulting engineers
Consulting electrical engineers need professional indemnity insurance. Design and advice are what you sell, and a design error usually causes financial loss rather than accidental damage, which public liability does not cover. This page is about engineers who design, specify and certify electrical systems, not electricians who install to someone else’s design. Electrical contractors who produce their own designs carry the same risk for that part of their work, and their PI needs to say so.
Part of: Engineers’ professional indemnity insurance
In short
An electrical engineer’s mistakes tend to surface as an undersized supply, protective devices that do not discriminate, cables that run hot, switchgear rated below the fault level, or a fire alarm design that building control will not accept. The resulting claims are for redesign, rework, delay and lost income, which professional indemnity insurance is designed to cover and public liability is not. BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 is the benchmark, and its model Electrical Installation Certificate has a separate declaration for the designer. Under CDM 2015, anyone who prepares a design for an electrical system intended for a structure is a designer with legal duties. No law requires PI, but appointments usually do.
Last reviewed 5 October 2026 by the Apex professional indemnity team.
The word “electrical” covers two different businesses. An electrical contractor installs, tests and maintains installations, usually to a design produced by someone else. A consulting electrical engineer produces that design: maximum demand and supply capacity, distribution strategy, cable and protective device selection, earthing, fault level and discrimination studies, lighting, life safety systems and the specification the contractor prices. Many firms do some of both.
The risk follows the role. An installer’s typical claim is about workmanship or an accident: a cable damaged while pulling in, or a fire started by a loose termination. Public liability insurance exists for accidental injury and property damage of that kind. A designer’s typical claim is about a decision: a supply that proves too small for the client’s plans, a board schedule that no longer matches the final layout, or a switchboard specified with a fault rating below the prospective fault current. Those losses are mostly financial, and they are what professional indemnity (PI) insurance is for.
If you design and install, you need both policies, and your PI must describe the design work. A policy that calls you only an “electrical contractor” invites an argument about whether a design claim fits within it.
These scenarios are illustrative. They show the kind of allegation consulting electrical engineers face; they are not real claims or outcomes.
Each is an allegation that you did not design with the skill and care of a competent electrical engineer, and that the client or contractor lost money as a result.
When an electrical design is criticised, an expert will compare it with these reference points.
| Reference | What it says | Why it matters for your PI |
|---|---|---|
| BS 7671:2018+A4:2026, IET Wiring Regulations | The 18th Edition, now at Amendment 4:2026, which the IET describes as containing extensive changes to many areas of the standard. | Designs in progress need checking against the amendment your certificate will name. |
| IET model Electrical Installation Certificate | Separate declarations for design, construction, and inspection and testing. The designer certifies that, having exercised reasonable skill and care, the design work they were responsible for complies with BS 7671 to the best of their knowledge and belief, except for any departures recorded. | Signing the design section is a written statement about your professional work. |
| Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, regulation 4 | All systems must at all times be of such construction as to prevent danger, so far as is reasonably practicable, and be maintained to prevent danger. | Your design is how the duty holder meets the construction duty, so an unsafe design is examined closely after an incident. |
| CDM 2015, regulations 2 and 9 | A designer includes anyone who prepares or modifies a design relating to a structure, or to a mechanical or electrical system intended for a particular structure. Designers must eliminate, reduce or control foreseeable risks and provide information with the design. | Electrical engineers carry statutory design duties as well as contractual ones. |
| BS 5839-1 | Code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire detection and alarm systems in non-domestic premises. | Life safety design can fall within PI fire safety exclusions. |
| BS 5266-1:2025 | Code of practice for emergency lighting of premises, published in October 2025. It covers common access routes in blocks of flats but not private dwellings. | A newly revised code means older design templates need reviewing. |
| Usually covered by PI | Often excluded or limited | Needs a different policy |
|---|---|---|
| Negligent design, calculations and specifications | Fire alarm, emergency lighting and other life safety design, where the policy has a fire safety exclusion or sub-limit | Accidental fire or damage caused while installing (public liability) |
| Errors in maximum demand, fault level and discrimination studies | Guaranteed energy savings or performance figures | Injury to your own staff (employers’ liability) |
| Design declarations on Electrical Installation Certificates, where declared | Correcting your own faulty installation work | Works damaged before handover (contract works) |
| Advice during tender, construction and commissioning | Projects in the USA or Canada, unless agreed | Test instruments, laptops and tools (equipment cover) |
| Defence costs, including independent engineering experts | Circumstances known before the policy began | Attacks on your own IT systems and data (cyber insurance) |
Cover is always subject to the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms. If life safety systems are a regular part of your work, ask how the fire safety wording treats them before you buy, not after a claim. Our guide to fire safety and cladding exclusions in PI explains how those clauses are written.
The IET’s model Electrical Installation Certificate splits responsibility three ways: design, construction, and inspection and testing. Each has its own declaration and signature, and the form allows for two designers. Where one person does all three, a single-signature version is used. That structure is the clearest statement in electrical work of the difference between designer and installer, and it matters for your insurance.
When you sign the design declaration, you certify that you exercised reasonable skill and care and that the design work you were responsible for complies with BS 7671, except for any departures you record. That is the language of professional negligence, and it is what a claimant will hold you to.
The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 define a designer to include anyone who prepares or modifies a design for a mechanical or electrical system intended for a particular structure. Most consulting electrical engineers fall within that definition on every building project.
As a designer you must not start work unless satisfied the client is aware of its own CDM duties. You must eliminate foreseeable risks to people building or maintaining the structure, or using it as a workplace, so far as is reasonably practicable, reduce or control what remains, and provide enough information with the design for others to meet their duties. For electrical systems that means thinking about safe isolation, access to switchrooms and risers, and how high-level equipment will be maintained.
Breaching CDM is a criminal matter, and PI wordings commonly exclude fines and penalties. But the same design failings can lead to civil claims for injury or financial loss, which is where PI may respond, subject to the wording.
Developers, contractors, public sector frameworks and building owners set the limit in your appointment. Novation to a design and build contractor and collateral warranties to funders and tenants are common on larger projects, and each widens who can claim against you. Check whether the appointment wants cover for each and every claim or in the aggregate, and for how many years after completion, often six or twelve.
PI is claims-made, so the policy that responds is the one in force when the claim arrives, not the one you held when you produced the design. Keep cover continuous for as long as your appointments require, and arrange run-off cover if you retire, merge or close the practice; see run-off cover explained.
A complete proposal gets better terms than a bare one, and a broker can only present what you tell us. Have these ready:
Speak to a broker
PI for electrical engineers, placed by a named broker
Start the online proposal and save it as you go, or leave your number and a named broker will call you back, usually the same working day.
Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent insurance broker based in Bristol, established in 2009 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are not tied to one insurer: we work with over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s syndicates through wholesale brokers, and every client has a named broker who handles the placement, mid-term changes, certificates for clients and the renewal.
Yes, if you design, specify, calculate or certify electrical systems. A design error usually causes financial loss, such as redesign, rework or delay, rather than accidental damage, and public liability is not designed to pay for that. Electricians who only install to another firm’s design rely mainly on public liability instead.
No law requires electrical engineers to hold professional indemnity insurance. In practice developers, contractors, public sector frameworks and building owners make it a condition of appointment, usually with a minimum limit and a requirement to keep cover for several years after completion.
If you only install to someone else’s design, public liability is usually the core cover. If you design circuits, size supplies, specify equipment or sign the design section of an Electrical Installation Certificate, you are doing design work and should consider PI for that part of the business.
It can, but check the wording. Many PI policies now exclude or sub-limit fire safety work, and fire alarm and emergency lighting design can fall within that. If life safety systems are a regular part of your work, make sure the policy covers them expressly.
On the IET model form, you declare that you exercised reasonable skill and care in the design and that, to the best of your knowledge and belief, the design work you were responsible for complies with BS 7671, except for any departures recorded. Sign only for the design you actually produced.
PI is claims-made, so you need a policy in force when a claim is made, which may be years after the design. Appointments often require cover for six or twelve years after completion. If you retire or close the business, arrange run-off cover for past work.
Apex arranges professional indemnity insurance for electrical engineers across the UK. Tell us about your work and we’ll find cover that fits. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Start your PI proposal Call 0117 325 0027Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information, not advice on your individual circumstances. Cover is always subject to the insurer’s acceptance and the policy terms, and this page does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.
