Business Insurance for Electricians

Do electricians need business insurance? 

You probably wouldn’t rock up to a job without your tools and safety gear, and business insurance should be no different. 

It can offer financial protection if something happens to you, your business, your tools or your employees, like accidents, damage or theft. 

With adequate business insurance, certain costs are covered, such as medical expenses, repairs or replacements, and legal costs. Plus, depending on where you live in Australia, some types of insurance might be mandatory – but we’ll dive into that further down. 

What kinds of business insurance products are available for electricians? 

There’s no single product known as electricians’ insurance, nor is there one kind of business insurance for electricians. However, several types of insurance could be incredibly beneficial for an electrician business. 

Public liability insurance  

Public liability insurance might just be the single most important insurance you’ll come across as a sparkie. This is because it’s mandatory in several states if you want to legally trade – including Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. 

Even if you’re operating your electrician business elsewhere, public liability insurance could still be a good idea. It can help with expenses like third-party medical bills and property repairs, as well as legal costs, if a member of the public is injured or has their property damaged and your business is responsible. 

The events that aren’t covered can differ between policies and providers, but generally public liability insurance doesn’t cover damage to you or your business’s property, injuries to your employees, fines or punitive damages or correcting your bad workmanship. If you’re a sparkie who works on aircraft, you may also need to take out a specific aviation insurance policy. 

Personal accident and illness insurance  

If you’re a sole trader, your business relies on your labour to get anything done – which is why getting sick or having an accident wouldn’t exactly be ideal. 

This is where personal accident and illness insurance steps in. It could replace your income and possibly pay your business expenses if you can’t work after an unexpected injury or illness – even if it occurs off the job. 

In most cases, personal accident and illness insurance doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions, pregnancy and childbirth-related injuries or illnesses, or injuries or illnesses caused by intentional criminal acts, alcohol and drugs, or resulting from professional sports. 

Professional Indemnity insurance 

Say you miscalculated the electrical load for a client’s new addition to their home, resulting in frequent power outages or equipment damage. Professional indemnity insurance could help shoulder the cost of any claims that arise from that mistake. 

It can help cover losses incurred by negligence or misleading advice, as well as the legal costs associated with the claim. Professional Indemnity insurance also usually includes breaches of professional duty, defamation, breaches of confidentiality, and a few other scenarios. 

However, situations like intentional misconduct or damage, fraud or dishonesty and contractual liabilities aren’t covered by professional indemnity. 

Portable equipment insurance 

Imagine if your tools or expensive equipment, like your wire tracer and multimeter, got stolen from your ute. Not only would you be unable to work, but replacing them could cost an arm, leg and a small fortune. 

Portable equipment insurance can help cover tools, business equipment or electronic items that get stolen, damaged or lost. 

There are a few things it doesn’t include, though, like general wear and tear, theft by employees, and environmental damage like rust, oxidation, mildew, mould and so on. 

Is business insurance mandatory for electricians? 

Besides public liability insurance requirements in a few Aussie states, what other kinds of insurance are must-haves for sparkies? 

If you’ve got employees, apprentices or subcontractors working for you, you’ll need workers’ compensation – this covers them if they get sick or injured on the job. It’s mandatory across Australia and if you’re an employee of your business, you could be financially protected by it too. If you’re not, that’s where personal accident insurance comes in.

Queensland-based electricians also have to add a Consumer Protection extension to their public liability insurance, with a minimum coverage of $50,000. This protects consumers against defective electrical work and other liabilities. 

Helpful tip from BizCover

Keep a detailed inventory that covers every single tool and piece of equipment you own, including serial numbers and receipts. That way, if you need to file a portable equipment insurance claim, you’ll have proper documentation. And ensure you update your inventory if you add or remove anything from your toolkit.

Jane Mason

Former Head of Product, Channels & Risk at BizCover

How much does business insurance cost for electricians? 

When insurance providers are assessing your fees (AKA ‘premiums’) they’ll look at several different factors, including: 

• The kind of electrical work you do: There’s a big difference between doing domestic, commercial and industrial electrical work, especially where risk is concerned. Generally, high-risk jobs come with higher premiums because there’s more potential for claims.
• Your business size: Bigger businesses also have more exposure to claims, simply because they have more employees.
• The value of your tools: If you’ve got expensive or specialised equipment, it can impact the price you pay.
• Your coverage amount, along with other insurance bits and bobs: If you’re insuring your business for a higher amount, you may pay more. The same goes if you have any add-ons with your policy. 

BizCover helped cover nearly 6,500 electricians in 2024. Over 72% of electricians paid an average of $91.03 per month for their insurance with BizCover.¹BizCover Customer Average Monthly Payment Report is based on FY24 and presented as a guide only. It may not reflect pricing for your particular business, as individual underwriting criteria will apply.

What else should electricians consider when choosing business insurance? 

When you’re picking your policy, keep these key considerations in mind: 

• Your risk level: You might work in a particularly risky electrical job, like industrial maintenance or construction site wiring, where you’re at risk of severe electric shocks or burns, or maybe you work at high altitudes or with high-voltage equipment. A bigger amount of risk could require more coverage
• Excess: The excess is the gap you pay if you make a claim. Although not necessarily true of all policies, the higher your excess, the lower your premiums
• Exclusions: Once again, every policy differs when it comes to exclusions, but generally things like pre-existing damage or conditions, theft by employees and environmental damage aren’t covered by insurance. Check your policy’s Product Disclosure Statement to make sure 

Where can I find and compare business insurance? 

Right here on iSelect! We’ve launched a business insurance comparison tool with BizCover, which lets you weigh up policies from several of Australia’s leading insurance providers.