On 15 October, the old version of the UK wiring regulations stopped being current. BS 7671:2018+A2:2022+A3:2024 was withdrawn, and Amendment 4:2026 (published 15 April) is now the version new installations have to meet. Work that was already designed and under way to the old version can still be finished to it. Anything quoted from here on should be designed and certified to A4.
Most site owners won't notice. They'll get three quotes for chargers, pick the middle one, and assume "qualified electrician" covers it.
It often doesn't. Commercial EV charging sits at the junction of wiring regs, earthing rules, grid notification, grant paperwork and, if the public can use it, consumer regulations. An electrician with a van and a good reputation for kitchen rewires can get several of those wrong without ever doing anything dangerous enough to notice on day one. You'll notice later: when the grant claim bounces, the insurer asks for the certificate, or the DNO finds out about your 150kW load from a fault report.
Here's what to ask for before you sign. It takes ten minutes and a couple of searches.
1. Is the company an OZEV authorised installer?
If you want the Workplace Charging Scheme (up to £500 per socket, up to 40 sockets, closing 31 March 2027), this is the first gate. Only an OZEV authorised installer can claim the grant on your behalf, and only for installations made after the date they were authorised.
How to check:
- Search the gov.uk list of authorised chargepoint installers. It's public. New firms can take about a week to appear, so a very new company might be legitimate but not listed yet. Ask for their OZEV installer number either way.
- Authorisation belongs to the company, not to an individual electrician. If the person quoting you says "I'll put it through under someone else's number", walk away.
- Firms can say they're "OZEV approved". They can't use the OZEV logo. A logo on the van or the quote is a small but telling sign of someone not reading the rules.
- To stay authorised, a firm has to have submitted a claim in the past two years and stay on a competent person scheme. Authorised once isn't authorised forever.
A reminder on scope: the Workplace Charging Scheme is for staff and fleet charging. If the plan is customer bays, the grant isn't your funding route, and an installer who tells you otherwise is either confused or optimistic. Our Workplace Charging Scheme guide covers what's eligible.
2. Are they registered for commercial work?
OZEV authorisation itself depends on the firm holding either:
- membership of a competent person scheme, which for commercial installations means NAPIT, NICEIC or SELECT, or
- ECA membership in the commercial and industrial category.
The word that matters is commercial. A domestic Part P registration lets an electrician self-certify work in homes. It isn't the same thing as being assessed for commercial and industrial installations. Ask for the scheme name and membership number, then check it on that scheme's own register. If the scope listed says domestic only, your car park isn't domestic.
3. Has the person doing the design got an EV qualification?
The common one is the City & Guilds 2921-34: the Level 3 Award in the Requirements for the Design and Installation of Domestic and Small Commercial Electric Vehicle Charging Installations. It covers AC and DC charging equipment, design, testing, commissioning and handover, and vehicles used as energy storage.
Two things worth knowing:
- It's a top-up for people who are already qualified electricians. Entry needs a Level 3 electrical qualification (or an ECS Gold Card, JIB or Approved Electrician card). An EV award on its own, without the underlying trade qualification, is a red flag.
- It's a two-day course with a 30-question multiple-choice exam. Useful, but not proof of experience. The title says "small commercial". If you're planning a multi-charger hub, rapid chargers or a new grid connection, ask for three comparable jobs: number of chargers, power, and a reference you can call.
4. Will the certificate say A4:2026?
This is the new question, and a sharp one. Ask: "Which edition of BS 7671 will the design and Electrical Installation Certificate reference?" For a job quoted now, the answer should be BS 7671:2018+A4:2026. If they hesitate, or say "the 18th Edition" and stop there, they may not have caught up.
Ask the same about the IET Code of Practice for Electric Vehicle Charging Equipment Installation. The current edition is the 5th, published in 2023. It's the guidance most designers work from for workplace, public and depot charging, including how to apply diversity when several chargers share a supply.
5. How will they earth it?
This is where cheap installs cut corners. Most UK sites are supplied on a PME (TN-C-S) earthing arrangement, and the wiring regulations restrict using a PME earth for outdoor EV charging because of the risk if the supply's combined neutral and earth conductor fails. The fix is one of a short list of methods: an earth electrode, an open-PEN protection device, or equipment with equivalent protection built in.
You don't need to understand the engineering. You need the installer to tell you which method they're using and show it on the design. "We'll sort that on the day" isn't a method.
6. Who's telling the grid?
OZEV authorised installers must notify the local DNO of every installation. For bigger loads, the conversation with the DNO needs to happen before installation, not after, and it can decide whether you need a new connection at all. Ask who's responsible for the DNO application, what capacity they've assumed, and whether they've checked your existing headroom. Our DNO guide explains why this is the question installers hope you won't ask.
7. Is the hardware legal for how you'll use it?
The right charger depends on who's plugging in:
- Staff, fleet or other private use: chargers sold since 30 June 2022 must meet the Smart Charge Points Regulations 2021 (smart functionality and security). Public chargers and rapid chargers of 50kW or more are excluded. For the Workplace Charging Scheme, the model also has to be on the approved commercial chargepoint list.
- Open to the public: the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 apply. New chargers of 8kW and above need contactless payment; rapid networks (50kW+) must hit 99% average reliability; operators must run a free 24/7 helpline and show the maximum price. Those duties fall on the charge point operator. So find out who that is: you, the installer, or a third party. If nobody can answer, it may well be you, and you won't know it.
Insist on OCPP-compliant hardware whichever route you take, so the chargers aren't tied to one back office for life. Here's why that matters.
8. Who actually turns up?
Plenty of installers sell the job and subcontract the work. That's fine if it's done properly. OZEV's own rules for firms that subcontract require public liability insurance of at least £2 million (employer's liability doesn't count), and every subcontractor needs their own OZEV installer number. Ask for the insurance certificate and the names of whoever will be on site.
The red flags, in one list
- No competent person scheme number, or a domestic-only registration
- Wants payment for the grant amount before OZEV pays (authorised installers aren't allowed to do this)
- Quote with no site survey or load assessment
- Can't name the BS 7671 edition or the earthing method
- "We don't need to tell the DNO"
- Proprietary, non-OCPP hardware with no exit route
What you should get at handover
A proper commercial install ends with paper, not just a working charger: the Electrical Installation Certificate (to A4:2026), commissioning and test records, the DNO notification or approval, the grant claim reference if you used one, and the back-office login and OCPP details. Authorised installers have to keep installation records for at least three years. You should keep yours for the life of the kit.
Our take
None of this is exotic. It's the minimum a competent commercial EV installer does without being asked. But the market's full of firms that learned on home chargers and are now quoting for car parks, and the 15 October switch to A4:2026 is a good moment to find out who's keeping up.
If you've also been offered a fully funded deal by an operator, the same questions apply. The operator's installer is still working on your site and your grid connection.
Want a second pair of eyes on a quote?
Send us the quotes you've got. We'll survey the site, check the design against A4:2026 and your grid headroom, tell you which grant (if any) fits, and flag anything missing. No obligation.
Site SurveyRead this article in the app at energy-partners.co.uk/insights/qualified-ev-charger-installer-checklist-uk. Energy Partners installs and manages commercial EV charging, solar and battery storage for UK venues — talk to us.