Electrical Contractors Insurance

Many Electrical Contractors end up paying too much for their insurance because:

• They saw/heard an ad and bought insurance without getting comparative quotes
• Their broker didn’t know which insurer was offering the best price for their insurance
• Believed the story that all trades are a high risk and accepted high premiums are okay

CoverTradie’s insights will help you get the right insurance that saves money and prevents headaches.

Insurance Types

The two most common questions that we get asked when it comes to Electrical Contractors Insurance

• What insurance does an electrical contractor need?
• How much is insurance for an electrical contractor?

Let us make the answers to these questions easy for you!

As an electrical contractor, a basic insurance plan needs to consider at least these 3 types of risks:

• Risks of injury to you or even your death – Personal Accident Insurance
• Risk of injury to people and damage to their property – Public Liability Insurance
• Risk of loss to assets
  • Stock & Tools – Property & Tool Insurance
  • Vehicles, utes, vans etc. – Commercial Vehicle Insurance

Personal Accident Insurance

There’s a reason we talk about the Personal Accident Insurance first. We think YOU are the most important asset you have and that needs to be protected.

Many Electricians, in fact too many electricians ignore this risk and shouldn’t.

Here’s a reason why:

https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/news/2020-08/electrician-dies-under-house

The thing with personal accident insurance is that we all think that stuff happens to others and nothing ever is going to affect us. Unfortunately it does and if something happens to you, No You – No Business.

We have a range of options available for you, give us a call.

Insurance Types

Public Liability Insurance

Public Liability Insurance protects your business against a financial loss if, due to your work activities, you end up damaging someone else’s property or causing an injury to someone.

For example:

You had a contract to rewire a property and the apprentices’ work wasn’t checked properly.

An accidental short circuit resulted in a total loss house fire and the homeowner sues you for damages.

Your Public Liability Insurance is there to protect you in a scenario like this.

This is a mandatory insurance that you have to have to get and maintain your electrician’s registration.

The minimum coverage required is $5 Million dollars but there would be situations you may need $10 million, $20 million or more depending on the type of jobs you are doing.

That leads us to the other important matter – The cost of insurance.

The prices of public liability insurance vary a lot, and a range of factors influence the end price you pay. For example:

• Business turnover
• Location of you business – State
• How many staff you have
• Type of specific activities within your business
• Claims history etc.

Let us provide you a high level guidance.

First of all, how does the insurance pricing for electrical contractors compare with other common trades. See chart below:

As you can see that premiums for Electricians isn’t too bad compared to other trades but this premium can vary a little by state.

In the next chart below we show the cheapest premiums we have seen for Electrical Contractors Insurance in different states.

But what happens as the turnover increases. As you would expect, the premiums go up with the increase in turnover. See chart below:

What if you needed a liability limit greater than $5Million. Well you will find there’s not a huge difference. See chart below: The difference between $5Million and $20Million is about $100 dollars for electricians.

That was just a high level view of Electrical Contractors Insurance Cost. We think there’s more to it for you to make an informed decision so let us give you some insights into what happens at a state level.

Electrical Contractors Insurance Victoria

Unlike Plumbers in Victoria, Electricians do not need to have consumer protection insurance built into their public liability insurance.

You need a minimum of $5 Million Public Liability Cover, see Energy Safe requirements:

Coupled that with low claims for electricians, makes Electrician Insurance very cost effective in Victoria.

The average cost of Electrician Insurance in Victoria is low and we have low premiums starting at $455 for 12 months. See table below:

Electrical Contractors Insurance NSW

The average cost of Electrician Insurance in NSW is also low and we have low premiums starting from $489 for 12 months. See table below:

Like Victoria, the minimum insurance coverage required is $5 Million. There may be other requirements that you may need to consider, see below:

• Electrician Licensing NSW
• Home Builder Compensation Cover NSW

Electrical Contractors Insurance Queensland

Queensland Electrician’s Insurance requirements list that your insurance has these two:

1. Public Liability Insurance – minimum $5 Million Coverage
2. Consumer Protection Insurance – $50,000.

When we set up your public liability insurance we simply add the consumer protection insurance on to it so you are fully covered.

That leads us to the part where we share the Electrical Contractors Insurance QLD cost. Whilst the premiums are a little higher than other states, low premiums start at $609 for 12 months.

Electrical Contractors Insurance WA

The cost of Electrician Insurance in WA is low compared to other states except in South Australia.

Our lowest premiums start at $439 for 12 months.

Electrical Contractors Insurance SA

South Australia has in our view the lowest cost Electrical Contractors Insurance in Australia. See table below:

We can organise insurance for you for as little as $411 for 12 months if your turnover is up to $100,000. This is for the limit of $5 Million, however you will notice that the premium for $10 Million or $20 Million aren’t that far higher.

As you can see that there is a lot of pricing options available in the market. Its certainly a bad strategy to pay any more than what you need to. There are some insurers who see electricians as a high risk occupation and others who don’t.

A knowledgable broker can make a difference and we think we know a thing or two about the tradies insurance market so give us a call and we’d be more than happy to sort out insurance for you.

Insurance Types