Fusebox and consumer unit upgrades, done to 18th edition Amendment 2.

What is included

• Metal-clad consumer unit to BS EN 61439-3, dual-RCD as standard or all-RCBO where circuit count and household use case justify it
• Type 2 surge protection device (SPD) as required by BS 7671:2018 Amendment 2:2022 for domestic dwellings
• Full main earth and equipotential bonding check to 10mm on incoming water and gas, upgraded where the existing bond is undersized or absent
• Circuit-by-circuit insulation resistance test at 500V, earth-fault-loop impedance and RCD trip-time verification, all logged
• Electrical Installation Certificate (EIC) issued on completion, with the notification filed through Thanet District Council building control as Part P requires
• Old board removed and disposed of, tails and meter side left neat for UK Power Networks if the cutout also needs their attention

Why the upgrade matters

A pre-2008 wooden or plastic-fronted consumer unit is not intrinsically unsafe, but three things about it usually are. First, no RCD protection on the socket circuits, which the 17th and 18th editions both mandate. Second, no combined arc and surge protection at the origin, which Amendment 2 now expects on dwellings. Third, an earthing arrangement that predates the current 10mm bonding rule, common in Broadstairs Victorian stock where the gas came in decades before the modern earth clamp did. A new 18th edition board fixes all three in one visit and re-baselines the installation for the next EICR.

Dual-RCD versus all-RCBO

Dual-RCD is the cheaper choice and works well on smaller installations with four or five final circuits, where a single RCD trip taking out half the house is a tolerable outcome. All-RCBO is what we recommend on any property with a home office, medical equipment, a freezer nobody wants to lose, or an EV charger on a shared main. Each circuit trips on its own fault, nothing else goes off, and diagnosis at the board is one glance. The cost difference on a typical Broadstairs job is roughly £150 to £250.

Broadstairs specifics that change the quote

• Victorian villas with a TT earthing arrangement. A handful of older seafront properties still sit on a rod-only earth. That is legitimate under BS 7671 but requires a time-delayed RCD (S-type) at the origin and a valid earth-electrode resistance test at commissioning. We test and note it on the certificate.
• Salt-air-corroded meter tails and cutouts. Anything within a few streets of Viking Bay, Stone Bay or Botany Bay tends to show green oxide on tails and cutout stubs by the time a board upgrade is due. If the tails or the DNO cutout need replacing, that is a UK Power Networks visit which we book with them, not a job we do ourselves.
• Older-buyer accessible board position. On the older-buyer demographic Broadstairs sells to, we often relocate the board from under-stairs or high-cupboard positions to a chest-height wall mount in a hallway cupboard or a purpose-built enclosure. Working from a wheelchair or with limited reach is a reasonable design brief.
• Listed and conservation-area properties. Any board change on the front elevation of a listed property near the Old Town needs Thanet DC listed building consent before we start. The board itself is not the issue, the cable route to it usually is.

How the day runs

Power off at the DNO cutout at around 09:00 after a final walk-through and a note of the meter reading. The old board comes off, tails are checked, main earth and bonds are verified or upgraded. The new board goes on with the circuits landed in a logical order, RCBOs labelled to match the room and the appliance. Insulation resistance is tested at 500V on every circuit with vulnerable loads (LED drivers, dimmers, PC power supplies) disconnected, then re-tested with them back on. RCDs are trip-tested at 5x rated to confirm the sub-30ms disconnect. Power is back on by mid-afternoon on a normal job, later on jobs where a bond needs a chase and re-plaster.

Indicative pricing

Fixed price after a site visit, no upfront deposit.

• £550 to £700 - straight swap on a 6 to 8 way dual-RCD board, existing earthing arrangement complies
• £700 to £850 - all-RCBO board, Type 2 SPD, minor bonding upgrade
• £850 to £950 - larger property (10 to 12 way), TT earth verification, tails re-terminated at the meter, or a board relocation of up to 1.5m

Prices exclude any DNO cutout or meter tail work, which UK Power Networks handles directly and is normally free of charge when done in conjunction with a certified installer visit.

Compliance in short

Work is completed to BS 7671:2018 Amendment 2:2022. Consumer unit changes are notifiable under Part P of the Building Regulations and are registered with Thanet District Council building control on your behalf. An Electrical Installation Certificate is issued on the day of completion and a copy is kept on file for six years, which covers any future EICR cross-check and any conveyancing enquiry when the property sells.