Electrician invoice template
Electrical work leaves a paper trail nobody else’s trade does — certificates, notifications, test results — and the invoice is what ties it to the money. This template bills labour and parts separately, references the certificate you issued, and copes with the two things that change the maths: VAT on new builds and CIS when you are on site for a contractor.
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Invoice details
Your business
Adds your VAT number below, plus VAT columns and a VAT section.
Stored on your device only and embedded in the PDF. PNG or JPG, under 1MB.
Bill to (your client)
VAT
CIS (construction)
Domestic reverse charge
Appearance
Items
Discount, deposit & payment
Receiving a deposit can create a VAT tax point. Check HMRC guidance if unsure.
Your business name
Invoice
INV-0001
Bill to
Client name
- Invoice date
- 01/10/2026
| Description | Qty | Unit | VAT | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | 1 | £0.00 | 20% | £0.00 |
- Net total
- £0.00
- VAT 20%
- £0.00
- Total VAT
- £0.00
- Total
- £0.00
Reference the certificate on the invoice
Whatever you issued alongside the work — an Electrical Installation Certificate for a new circuit, a Minor Works certificate for an alteration, an EICR after a periodic inspection — put its number and date on the invoice. Two reasons. Landlords and letting agents file the two documents together, and a certificate number on the invoice is what stops the agent emailing you for it six months later. And if the work was notifiable under Part P, the invoice is a useful record of which competent-person notification covers which job.
Bill the inspection itself as its own line. Testing and certification is chargeable work whether or not remedial work follows, and separating it means a customer who declines the remedials still has a clean invoice for the part they had.
Parts and labour on their own lines
Consumer units, cable drums, accessories and fittings go on lines of their own, apart from the hours. A domestic customer reads it as transparency. On a CIS job it's not optional — the deduction is worked out on labour, so a merged line is either a mis-stated deduction or an argument with the contractor's QS.
Where you supply and fit as a single price, say what's included: "Consumer unit replacement, supply and fit — fixed £680 (unit and breakers included)". Bear in mind that if a contractor supplies the materials and you only provide labour, the whole of your invoice is labour for CIS purposes — there's nothing to exclude.
New builds are zero-rated, rewires are not
This is the VAT rule electricians most often miss. First-fix and second-fix electrical work carried out in the course of constructing a new dwelling is zero-rated — and that holds when you're a subcontractor to the housebuilder, not just for the main contractor. Work on an existing home is standard-rated at 20%: a rewire, a new circuit, an EICR, a fault-find. Conversions and homes empty for two years or more can fall to the reduced 5% rate. HMRC's buildings and construction notice is the reference.
Not registered for VAT? None of that applies — you invoice your price with no VAT at all until your rolling 12-month turnover passes £90,000. See do I need to charge VAT?
On site for a contractor: CIS and the reverse charge
Installing systems of lighting, power or heating is a construction operation, so when a contractor pays you for it the Construction Industry Scheme applies. They deduct 20% if you're registered and verified, 30% if you're not, 0% with gross payment status — from the labour element only, never materials or VAT. Bill the full amount; the deduction is applied when they pay.
If you're both VAT registered, the domestic reverse charge usually rides along with it: show the VAT, don't add it to the total, and state that the customer accounts for it. Note the asymmetry — an EICR for a private landlord is not a contractor payment, so no CIS and no reverse charge, just a normal invoice. The CIS invoice generator handles the site version.
A typical electrician invoice
Example line items you might add:
- Labour — consumer unit replacement, 6 hours @ £45
- Materials — 10-way dual RCD board & breakers
- EICR inspection & certificate (ref EIC-2291) — fixed £150
Frequently asked questions
Should the certificate number go on the invoice?
It is worth doing. Landlords and letting agents file the certificate and the invoice together, so quoting the EIC, Minor Works or EICR reference on the invoice saves a chasing email later and ties the charge to a specific piece of documented work.
Do electricians charge VAT on new build work?
Electrical work carried out in the course of constructing a new dwelling is zero-rated, including when you do it as a subcontractor to the housebuilder. Work on an existing property — rewires, new circuits, fault-finding — is standard-rated at 20%.
Does an electrician charge CIS on invoices?
Only when a contractor is paying you for construction work. Installing lighting, power or heating systems is within CIS, so the contractor deducts 20%, 30% or 0% from the labour element. Work billed directly to a homeowner or a landlord is a normal invoice.
What if the contractor supplies all the materials?
Then your invoice is entirely labour, and the CIS deduction applies to all of it. The materials exclusion only protects materials you paid for and are recharging — not materials that were free issue from the contractor.
Do I charge VAT separately on parts and labour?
If you are VAT registered, the same rate normally applies across the job because it is one supply of installed electrical work. The parts-and-labour split matters for clarity and for CIS, not for picking different VAT rates.