electrical safety check

[Eggsbutnobacon]

As part of our annual household safety check I have to provide a certificate proving all of the electrics are safe. This cost £150 to be carried out although once you get the certificate it lasts 10 years or so I believe.
Unfortunately the electrician has said that under the latest regs which came out in January my fuse box needs replaced with a metal one. ( the house is only 10 years old!).
Cost will be £450! You could have knocked me down with a feather.
Anybody else had experience of this? It is money I can ill afford to come out of my fostering income.

[3PurpleCrocs]

I've just had my safety check and there was no mention of needing an electrical cert (although I did need one for the boiler for the first time).

I do have an electrical cert though as I moved fairly recently and got one as part of the survey - it doesn't mention anything about needing a metal fuse box, and mine is plastic... Do you know the electrician? Is it possible it's not actually a requirement? £450 sounds a hell of a lot for a fuse box!

[3PurpleCrocs]

Just googled this out of curiosity and found this on the Which website -

There is no regulatory reason to have an 'old' fusebox replaced with a new consumer unit. An Electrical Installation Condition Report will confirm if it is safe and can function correctly. Replacing a fusebox is deemed a 'one-way' type of work – the old one cannot be re-installed if the installation goes wrong.

Also, various quotes for new fuse boxes ranging from £100 - £350

[Eggsbutnobacon]

Thanks for your reply. I work for an Ifa and they are really stringent with all their safety checks. Luckily my gas check is covered by the insurance contract I have out with British Gas in case my heating goes off.
Will double check info I have been given.