Areas we cover
Electricians in East Sussex
We cover five towns in East Sussex: Eastbourne, Seaford and Hastings on the coast, and Battle and Rye a few miles inland. Further down, you will find how a safe supply reaches a garden room or workshop, why a holiday let and a home let to tenants come under different electrical safety rules, and notes on old buildings and sea-facing walls.
Towns
Towns we list in East Sussex
Large Victorian houses along the coast, many now divided into flats, timber-framed buildings in the old streets of Rye, Battle and Hastings Old Town, and plenty of gardens with sheds, garages and garden rooms.
The five towns sit in four council areas: Eastbourne borough, Hastings borough, Rother district (Battle and Rye) and Lewes district (Seaford). The districts are larger than the towns we list: Bexhill is in Rother, and Lewes gives its name to Seaford’s district, yet neither is on our list, and nor is Brighton and Hove, which has its own city council.
Eastbourne
- EastbourneBN
Hastings
- HastingsTN
Rother
- BattleTN
- RyeTN
Lewes
- SeafordBN
Explained
Power to an outbuilding
A garden room, workshop or detached garage needs a supply that is protected all the way from the house, including the part you cannot see once the trench is filled in. This is how a typical buried supply fits together; the details for your property depend on the existing installation, the ground and what the building will be used for.
Select a numbered part to highlight it on the drawing.
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The outbuilding is normally fed by its own circuit, starting at the consumer unit. Before anything is connected, the existing installation is checked: whether the consumer unit and the incoming supply can take the extra load, and whether the earthing is adequate.
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The buried section is usually steel-wire armoured (SWA) cable, laid deep enough to be clear of ordinary garden digging. Its size depends on what the building will power and how far it is from the house.
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Marker tape laid in the trench above the cable means anyone digging later reaches the tape before the cable. Keep a note or photo of the route as well, for when you plant, fence or build.
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A small board inside gives the building its own main switch and separately protected circuits. In a home, socket and lighting circuits like these need 30 mA RCD protection.
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Depending on how the house is supplied and how the outbuilding is built and used, it may share the house’s earthing or need its own earth electrode, drawn dashed here. That is decided after the supply has been tested, not assumed in advance.
Local guide
Renting out a home or a holiday let
In England, a home let to tenants and a holiday let come under different rules. This is a summary of how each affects the electrics, not legal advice: for your own property, read the GOV.UK guidance or take advice.
- A home let to tenants
- If a tenant pays rent and lives there as their only or main home, the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 apply, apart from a few exclusions such as a lodger sharing your home. In outline, you must make sure a qualified person inspects and tests the installation at least every five years, that the tenant receives the report within 28 days of the inspection, and that anything the report says must be put right or investigated is dealt with within 28 days, or any shorter period the report specifies.
- A holiday let
- Guests on holiday are not living there as their only or main home, so those regulations generally do not apply. Fire safety law does: if you charge people to stay, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires you to carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, keep a record of it, and act on what it finds.
- What the holiday-let fire guidance says
- The government’s fire safety guide for small paying-guest accommodation, which includes self-catering lets, names electrical equipment and wiring as common causes of fire. It says the electrical installation should be inspected and tested at least every five years, that appliances should be checked regularly, and that you should look over the appliances between lets.
- Winter lets
- If you let a holiday property out of season to someone who lives there as their home, that tenancy may come under the 2020 regulations. Check before it starts: a new tenant must be given a copy of the latest report before they move in.
- Appliances you provide
- For private landlords, the 2020 regulations cover the fixed installation, not the appliances you supply. Those appliances still need to be safe for whoever uses them, and a record of regular checks or tests is a practical way to show they have been looked after.
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Timber-framed and listed buildings
Rye, Battle and Hastings Old Town have a lot of timber-framed buildings, and many are listed. Oak posts and beams, lath-and-plaster ceilings and old panelling all affect where a new cable can run and whether it can be hidden. In a listed building, cutting into original fabric to bury a cable may need listed building consent from the council. Tell us at the start whether yours is listed, or that you do not know, so the cable routes can be planned with that in mind.
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Sea-facing walls
On the seafront at Eastbourne, Seaford and Hastings, an outside light or socket on a wall facing the Channel takes the worst of the winter weather, and salt wears away at its screws, hinged covers and seals. After a stormy spell, have a look at it without touching it: rust streaks below it, a cracked lens or a socket cover that no longer shuts are signs it needs attention. If you see any of them, stop using the fitting until it has been checked.
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Sheds and garages that already have power
If an outbuilding already has power but nobody is sure how it was put in, have it checked before you rely on it for a heater or power tools. A permanent extension lead through a window, or a cable meant for indoor use buried in the lawn or clipped along a fence, is the sort of arrangement an inspection is there to find. If you can see one of these, stop using that supply until it has been checked.
Contacts
Who to contact for what
Not every problem is one for an electrician. Start with the right people.
| If you need | Contact |
|---|---|
| Power cut, or damage to the incoming supply cable or main fuse | Call 105 Your network operator (power cut line) |
| Fire, smoke or someone injured | Call 999 Emergency services |
| A fault in your own wiring, sockets, lights or consumer unit | Contact us DualCurrent |
| Planning, building control or listed building consent | Find your local council (opens in a new tab) Your local council |
| Checking whether a building is listed | Search the list (opens in a new tab) Historic England (National Heritage List for England) |
| Electrical safety rules for a home let to tenants | Read the landlord guidance (opens in a new tab) GOV.UK guidance for landlords |
| Fire safety, including the electrics, in a holiday let | Read the fire safety guide (opens in a new tab) GOV.UK guide for small paying-guest accommodation |
Often asked for in East Sussex
- Electrical compliance and safety testing Inspection, testing, reports and remedial work so you know where your installation stands.
- Full electrical installations Rewiring, new circuits, extra sockets and complete installations for refurbishments and new spaces.
- Fault finding and troubleshooting Tracing the cause of tripping, flickering, dead sockets and intermittent faults, so it can be put right.
- Electric heating systems Installing, repairing and upgrading electric heaters, controls and their circuits.
Questions from East Sussex
- What should I tell you about a garden room or workshop before you quote?
- What it will be used for and what will run in it (lights and sockets only, or heating and power tools too), roughly how far it is from the house, what the cable route would cross (lawn, paving, a drive or flower beds), whether any digging is already planned for a path or landscaping, and where your consumer unit is. Photos of the consumer unit with its cover on, and of the route, help. A new circuit from your home to an outbuilding is notifiable work under Part P of the Building Regulations, so building control must be notified: ask us how that will be handled for your job. Whether the building itself needs planning permission or Building Regulations approval is a separate question for your council.
- Can you inspect a holiday let between bookings?
- A gap between bookings is usually the easiest time, because circuits are switched off in turn while they are tested and guests would be without power for parts of the visit. Tell us your changeover days and how long the property stands empty, so the date can be agreed around them before anything is booked. If you also want the appliances you provide tested, ask at the same time. Any work the report recommends is a separate job, which you can plan for a later gap.
- My outside lights trip the power when it rains. What should I do?
- If an outdoor light, socket or cable looks damaged or has water inside it, keep away from it and leave the tripped switch off. Otherwise you can switch it back on once; if it trips again, leave it off and contact us. Make a note of which device tripped and what the weather was doing, as that helps narrow the fault down. Water getting into an outdoor fitting or a joint is one possible cause, especially on an exposed wall, but only testing can show where the fault is.
Next step
Tell us about the job
Include the postcode and a short description. We will contact you to talk it through and tell you whether and when we can help. Nothing is booked until you have a written quote and have accepted it.
Call or email us for a free quote
Tell us the postcode and a little about the job. We will contact you to discuss it, and you get a written quote before any work starts. Quotes are free. Some survey or diagnostic visits may be charged: ask when you book.
Our email address: support@dualcurrent.co.uk
Helpful to include
- The postcode of the property
- What the job is, or what is going wrong
- Photos, if you have them, taken without removing any covers