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How to choose an electrician in Cyprus

What can be verified about an electrician in Cyprus, which registrations matter, and how to get quotes you can actually compare.

8 min read

How to Choose a Electrician Company in Cyprus — illustrasjonsbilde

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ByChristos Hadjiyianni· Editor, electrical and storage

Christos covers electrical work, battery storage and the off-grid and commercial systems that sit on top of them. He tracks EAC grid connection requirements and export limits, which constrain more Cypriot installations than roof area ever does.

Published

Three things about a Cyprus electrician can be checked before anyone touches your consumer unit: that the company legally exists, that the person doing the work holds a current electrical contractor's licence, and that there is liability cover in force on the day they turn up. Everything else — whether they arrive on the Tuesday they promised, whether they make good the chasing they cut into your walls — you only learn afterwards. So put your effort into the three checkable things, then into writing one scope that every company quotes against.

What can actually be verified

Start by separating what a document can prove from what only experience can tell you.

Provable in about ten minutes: the company is registered and how long it has existed; the electrical contractor's licence number and whether it covers the class of work you need; public liability insurance in force, with dates; a VAT registration number that matches the name on the quote.

Not provable at all: how neat the second fix will be, whether the job runs to time, whether the person who quoted is the person who shows up.

Most buyers spend their energy on that second list, usually by reading opinions from strangers. We publish no star ratings and no testimonials, because a rating records what someone felt and a registration number records what can be confirmed at source. Our electrical trade pages and district coverage pages order companies on documented registrations, insurance and years trading, with the weighting published in full.

So get the licence number in writing before you invite anyone to survey the property. A company that sends it without hesitation has answered more than one question.

Registrations that matter

Four, in rough order of how much they tell you.

The electrical contractor's licence. This is the one that separates an electrician from a handyman with a multimeter. Licences are issued for defined categories of work, so the number alone is not the whole answer — ask which category it covers and whether it covers your job. A licensed contractor is the person who can sign an installation certificate for the work, and the Electricity Authority of Cyprus energises a new or altered installation against that certificate. If nobody in the chain can sign it, you have a problem that appears at the worst possible moment: the day you want the power on.

Registration with the Registrar of Companies. Public, free, quick. It gives you the legal name, the registration number, the incorporation date and standing. Longevity is not competence. But a company incorporated three weeks before it quoted you for a full rewire deserves a second question, and the registered name frequently differs from the trading name, which is normal — a registered name belonging to an unrelated business is not.

ETEK registration, where a design is involved. For anything that needs certified drawings or a designed installation — a new build, a substantial extension, a three-phase upgrade, a supply for a commercial unit — the design side sits with a professional registered with ETEK, the statutory chamber for engineers. That is a genuine qualification: it requires an accredited degree and it can be withdrawn. Your electrician may work alongside one rather than being one; ask who is doing which part.

Insurance actually in force. Ask for the certificate, not a sentence in an email, and read the dates and the sum insured. A policy that lapsed in March is not cover in July.

Questions to ask

Ask these before the survey, and ask everyone the same set. The answers sort the field faster than any amount of browsing.

  1. Which licence category do you hold, and does it cover this job?

    A straight answer takes one sentence. Anything longer is the answer.

  2. Who signs the installation certificate at the end?

    Name the person, not the company. On a rewire or a new supply this is the document that turns finished work into energised work.

  3. Is this your own crew or subcontracted?

    Either is fine. Knowing which matters eight months later when something needs revisiting.

  4. What is the state of the existing board?

    In the 1970s to 1990s blocks that dominate Strovolos and much of inland Nicosia, the original installation was designed for a household with no split-unit air conditioning and a fraction of today's socket count. Whether the board and tails can carry what you are adding moves the price more than anything else in the quote.

  5. Who makes good the chasing?

    Cutting circuits into concrete and rendered blockwork leaves scars. Whether plastering and painting is in your quote or in a separate one is the single most common gap between two prices that look comparable.

  6. What is the lead time on materials?

    Boards, specific breakers and any three-phase equipment can sit on order. Better to hear the honest wait now.

  7. Is the property coastal?

    In Kato Paphos and along the exposed coast generally, salt-laden air attacks external enclosures, glands and fixings. Galvanised and marine-grade fittings are the local standard for a reason, and a quote priced on standard fittings is cheaper today and shorter-lived.

What a good quote looks like

Start from what comparable work has actually been quoted at, then judge whether the number in front of you sits inside that world.

A quote you can compare has, at minimum, five things a single total does not:

  1. Scope by count, not by adjective. Points, circuits, outlets, light positions, the board and its way count. "Rewire apartment" is not a scope.
  2. Materials specified. Cable sizes, the board make, whether protection is by individual devices or a shared one. Two quotes on different specifications are not two prices for the same job.
  3. Making good stated either way. In or out, in writing.
  4. The certificate named as a deliverable, with any authority or connection fees identified as yours rather than buried.
  5. VAT treatment stated. The standard rate is 19%. A reduced 5% rate applies to qualifying renovation work on a private residence that has been in use for at least three years, subject to conditions on how much of the value is materials — the Tax Department sets the terms and they are worth checking against your own job rather than taking from a contractor's summary. A quote that is silent on VAT is a quote with a hole in it.

Payments should track stages — a deposit for materials, a stage payment at first fix, the balance after the certificate — rather than landing as a large sum before anyone has lifted a tool.

Ask for three quotes on one written scope. Fewer and you have no shape to the market; more and you are mostly collecting paperwork.

Warning signs

  • No licence number offered, or a promise to send it later. It is a number. It fits in a text message.
  • Cash only, no invoice. You lose the VAT receipt, the reduced-rate claim if you qualify, and any practical route to a warranty at the same time.
  • A single figure with no breakdown, especially one that arrives within minutes of a phone call and without a site visit. Cyprus building stock varies enormously between newer detached housing and the 1970s–1990s blocks of inland Nicosia. Nobody prices that difference from a description over the phone.
  • Reluctance to talk about the certificate. It is the difference between work that is finished and work that is merely stopped.
  • A large deposit demanded before materials are ordered, with no stage plan behind it.
  • A quote that ignores access. On the steep hillside plots around Peyia, and out toward Polis Chrysochous where travel time is added to most day rates, distance is a real cost. A price that never mentions it will discover it mid-job.
  • Pressure to start tomorrow. In Ayia Napa and the eastern resort towns, refurbishment of tourist accommodation concentrates into November to March for obvious reasons. Instant availability in August is worth a question.

Common questions

Do electricians in Cyprus have to be licensed?

Installation work that will be connected to the supply has to be done and certified by a licensed electrical contractor. The Electricity Authority of Cyprus is the practical gatekeeper: the certificate is what stands behind energising a new or altered installation. Ask for the licence number and the category it covers.

Do you publish reviews or ratings for electricians?

No. Our electrical listings and district coverage pages order companies on what a document can prove — registration, insurance, time trading — and the method is published on our methodology page.

How many quotes should I get?

Three, all against the same written scope. The scope matters more than the number: three quotes for three different jobs tell you nothing, and the biggest single reason two Cyprus electrical prices differ is that one includes plastering and painting after the chasing and the other does not.

Do I need a permit for rewiring?

Rewiring within an existing layout is generally an electrical matter rather than a planning one, settled by the installation certificate. Once you touch the structure — moving walls, extending, changing the building envelope — you are in planning territory. If your job crosses that line, find out before first fix, not after.

Can I claim the reduced VAT rate?

Possibly. The reduced rate applies to qualifying renovation of a private residence in use for at least three years, with conditions attached to the share of the value made up by materials. It is worth confirming with the Tax Department or your accountant, and worth agreeing with the contractor in writing before work starts rather than arguing about it on the final invoice.

What if the property is coastal?

Say so at the enquiry stage. External enclosures, glands, fixings and any outdoor-mounted equipment need to be specified for salt exposure in places like Kato Paphos, and the difference shows up in the materials line rather than in the labour.

Electrical companies with verified registrations

8 companies covering this area.

Sources

  1. Electricity Authority of Cyprus — supply and connections — retrieved 2026-07-24
  2. Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property — retrieved 2026-07-24
  3. ETEK — Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber — retrieved 2026-07-24
  4. Tax Department — VAT — retrieved 2026-07-24

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