Electrical Safety Certificate in WA: what you should get after electrical work

Published 23 October 2026

What is an Electrical Safety Certificate?

It's the electrical contractor's written certification of the work. Building and Energy, WA's electrical safety regulator, says it shows the work was done by a licensed electrical contractor, is safe and complies with safety standards, and to keep it somewhere safe for future reference, whether you've built a new home or had one or two lights or power points installed.

Since 14 May 2026, certificates are normally prepared through Building and Energy's eNotice portal. Building and Energy's eNotice guide says that if the contractor enters your email address, a PDF copy is sent to you automatically when the certificate is lodged, so give the contractor your email when you book. The contractor must keep a copy for five years.

Which electrical work needs a certificate?

The certificate applies to electrical installing work, which the regulations define as assembling, fixing in place, altering or adding to an electrical installation, or maintaining, removing or connecting equipment to fixed wiring. Maintenance work is exempt. The regulations define it as repairing defective equipment, or replacing equipment with equipment of an equal or substantially similar engineering specification.

When to expect an Electrical Safety Certificate

From regulations 3 and 52B of the Electricity (Licensing) Regulations 1991 (as at 14 October 2026) and Building and Energy's guide to having electrical work done, checked 22 October 2026. Whether a particular replacement counts as like-for-like is for the contractor to judge, so ask before the work starts if you want a certificate.

Bigger jobs also involve Western Power. Notifiable work is installing work other than maintenance (unless it needs the supply disconnected and reconnected or service apparatus replaced), adding or altering one final sub-circuit, or altering existing final sub-circuits. For most notifiable work, the contractor sends Western Power a preliminary notice before starting, and a notice of completion within 3 days of finishing. Those notices are separate from your certificate.

What the certificate must show

Regulation 52B sets out what every certificate must include:

• An identifying number not used on any of the contractor's other certificates
• The electrical contractor's licence number, which starts with EC, and the electrician's licence or permit number if an employee completed it
• A clear and accurate description of the work, the address where it was done and the date it was completed
• A certification that the work has been checked and tested, is safe and complies with the regulations
• The signature of the contractor, or of the licensed electrician authorised to complete it

If an employee completes the certificate on the contractor's behalf, the regulations require them to show you their written authority if you ask. It's an offence to deliver a certificate that's false or misleading, or one for work that isn't finished, is unsafe or doesn't comply.

Didn't get an Electrical Safety Certificate?

1. Ask the contractor. They have 28 days from completion, and must keep a copy for five years, so they can send it again later too.
2. Contact Western Power if it still isn't provided. Building and Energy says to contact your network operator, which around Busselton is Western Power, and that it will investigate.
3. Check the licence. Building and Energy says a missing certificate could mean the work isn't safe or the person who did it isn't licensed. Search the contractor's EC number on its online licence search.

Failing to deliver a certificate is an offence under regulation 52B. Unless a regulation sets a different penalty, the maximum fine under these regulations is $50,000 for an individual and $250,000 for a company.

It's illegal in WA for an unlicensed person to do electrical work, including changes to fixed wiring, so a certificate is also your record that the right person did the job.

Do you need an electrical certificate to sell or rent in WA?

No separate certificate is required. What WA law requires is that a home has at least two RCD safety switches protecting every power and lighting circuit, and compliant smoke alarms, before the title is transferred, before it's rented and before it's hired out. If an electrical contractor installs them, you receive an Electrical Safety Certificate for that work, and it's a useful record if a buyer asks. The deadlines and penalties are in WA smoke alarm and RCD rules when you sell or rent.

For rentals, Building and Energy's factsheet says that if RCDs aren't fitted after a tenant's written request, the tenant can write to Building and Energy. An inspection follows, and if RCDs are needed, the owner is ordered to fit them.

COES, CCEW and certificates in other states

Search results mix up the states. Victoria uses a Certificate of Electrical Safety (COES) and NSW a Certificate of Compliance Electrical Work (CCEW), each with its own rules and deadlines. None of them apply in WA, where the document is the Electrical Safety Certificate and the deadline is 28 days.

Common questions