Do You Need a Consumer Unit Replacement? Signs to Look For

Your consumer unit — the fuse board — is the heart of your electrical installation. An old or inadequate consumer unit can be a safety hazard, an insurance problem and a legal issue for landlords. Here's how to tell if yours needs replacing.

What Is a Consumer Unit?

The consumer unit (also called a fuse board or distribution board) is the metal or plastic box where the electricity supply enters your property and is split into individual circuits. Each circuit has its own protective device — a fuse or a breaker — that trips if there's a fault or overload.

Signs You Might Need a New Consumer Unit

It Has Rewirable Fuses

If your consumer unit has ceramic fuse holders with wire running through them, it's very old — likely 1960s or earlier. Rewirable fuses offer much less protection than modern circuit breakers and can't respond quickly enough to faults. Replacement is strongly recommended.

It Has No RCD Protection

RCDs (Residual Current Devices) protect against electric shock and are required on all new and modified installations under the current wiring regulations (18th Edition). If your consumer unit doesn't have RCDs, it's non-compliant and will generate C2 observations on an EICR.

It Keeps Tripping

While a tripping breaker is usually a sign of a fault on the circuit rather than the consumer unit itself, a consumer unit that trips repeatedly or whose breakers stick may have internal problems. It's worth having a qualified electrician inspect it.

It's Plastic (Post-2016)

Since January 2016, all new consumer units must be housed in a metal enclosure to prevent the spread of fire. Plastic consumer units installed before this date are not required to be replaced, but a consumer unit fitted since 2016 should be metal.

Your electrical inspection Says It's Non-Compliant

An EICR may flag a consumer unit as C2 (potentially dangerous) for several reasons — no RCDs, inadequate protection for the circuits, or a unit that's deteriorated beyond acceptable condition.

What's Involved in a Consumer Unit Replacement?

The electrician will isolate your supply, remove the old consumer unit and install a new one — connecting each circuit individually. Each circuit is tested before the power is restored. The work is notified to the local authority under Part P and a certificate is issued.

Most replacements are completed in a single day. The power is off for most of this time, so we try to start as early as possible.

How Much Does It Cost?

Consumer unit replacements in Clapham typically cost between £350 and £650 depending on the property size and number of circuits. We provide fixed prices so there are no surprises.