Shop power points are licensed electrical work

Last updated 31 October 2026.

A shop asks for “one more socket” at the till, behind the chiller, or under the counter for a POS and a router. EMA’s page for consumers says that addition, extension or replacement of socket-outlets, switches and lighting points should be carried out or supervised by a licensed electrical worker, as should repair or replacement of the consumer unit or the breakers. The S$55 row on the DB page is a power socket on an existing circuit. It is that row only when the circuit is already there and has capacity. It is still licensed work. It is not a spur taken by whoever is assembling the counter.

The class of worker is the part quotes skip. A licensed electrician may work on an installation not exceeding 45 kVA, at 1,000 volts and below. A licensed electrical technician’s design limit is 150 kVA, with a higher operating limit. An engineer is not limited in load, subject to the licence conditions. EMA also licences non-domestic installations above 45 kVA, and hazardous trades at any load. A small boutique may sit under 45 kVA. A food court, a supermarket, or a shop with a large kitchen often does not. We do not read 45 kVA off a single socket photo. If you have the approved load, send it. If you do not, the reply says so.

Board prices that already exist: diagnosis and one like-for-like 30mA RCCB or MCB from S$138 to S$480. A dedicated 20A, 32A or 40A appliance circuit, S$220 to S$450. An HDB 12-way to 18-way consumer unit, S$480 to S$780, which is the flat board on that page. A condo, landed or small-office 18-way to 24-way overhaul with LEW testing, S$780 to S$1,150. A small shop whose board matches the office sentence can use the office sentence. A board that does not match is quote on inspection. SS 638 is the installation code the DB page names. Ways are labelled. A cover is not left off.

Curtains, blinds and roller shades are not part of this booking. A roller shutter is a different product and stays on the shutter page.

The board is photographed with the cover on, then isolated before it is opened. A breaker that is hot, or that smells of burning, is not reset again. The whole-flat trip row and the single-circuit row are how the DB page splits the fault. A shop that loses the till and the lights together is the board. A chiller that trips only its own way is that circuit. Sharing the chiller with the till on a tired circuit is how the till dies at lunch. The dedicated circuit row exists for an appliance that needs its own way. It is not added to every new socket.

In an HDB shop the electrical path is commercial, not the flat form. HDB’s guide says electrical works go to an EMA licensed worker, and that a qualified person submits renovation including electrical works through CORENET unless the item is on the exemption list. Additional load is subject to spare capacity and a fee. The fee is not printed in the guide, so it is not printed here. Cables added in a civil defence shelter, if the unit has one, have to be in separate trunking, and the guide forbids modifying the existing shelter circuit. We will not spur a shelter circuit for a display fridge.

A mall adds the centre’s permit, and often a night slot, before a board is opened on a trading floor. The overnight row is S$380 to S$650 for permit-to-work admin and one hardware fix when the mall requires it. A board overhaul is not “one hardware fix”. The overhaul uses its own band if it matches, and the night slot is extra only when the centre requires it. Festive lighting and a trade-fair fit-out can fall under SS 650 for temporary installations. A permanent shop circuit is SS 638. We do not leave festival cable as the permanent supply.

Send the board with the schedule readable, the place you want the socket, and what will be plugged in. A router is not a chiller. Say the approved load if you have the letter. Say HDB shop or mall. If the work is only a faceplate on a sound existing circuit, say that, because the S$55 row is narrow. If you want three sockets and a new oven, it is not three times S$55.

Exit lights, fire-alarm panels and hose-reel supplies are not extra sockets. They are the fire guide and, where they are altered, fire safety works.

The socket price is the narrow row. The board and the load decide the rest.

Questions a shop should ask

Ask for the class of worker and the circuit, not for “a point”.

1. Is this a socket on an existing circuit, or a new circuit?
2. What is the approved load, and which class of licensed worker matches it?
3. Does the installation need an EMA licence because it is above 45 kVA or a hazardous trade?
4. Will the new load fit the spare capacity? HDB may charge a fee the guide does not print.
5. Is any circuit a shelter circuit? It is not a spare way.
6. Is the breaker hot or smelling of burning? Do not keep resetting it.
7. Does the mall require the board to be opened after hours?
8. Are you asking us to move an exit light or a fire-alarm point? That is a different submission.

The same socket is a different licence once the approved load changes.

EMA’s licensed-worker page and the installation-licence page are the two documents. Work on wiring and points is licensed work. Use of a non-domestic installation above 45 kVA, or any hazardous trade, needs an installation licence, with a licensed worker of the right class in charge. The worker searches are on ELISE. We do not accept a name card in place of a valid licence card. The card, as EMA describes it, carries the photograph, the name and the licence number.

The installation itself is SS 638. Temporary supplies for a fair or festive lighting are SS 650, which the 2025 amendment to the Electrical Installations Regulations points at. A shop that keeps the festive cable after the fair is no longer a temporary installation. HDB’s commercial guide requires the licensed worker and, for load increases, spare capacity. The guide’s fee for that load is not quantified. We will not invent it.

Fire alarm, emergency lighting and related supplies are not spare ways on a shop DB. Altering them can be fire safety works needing SCDF plan approval. A mall’s permit to work sits on top of the licence, not instead of it.

Official pages

• EMA: engaging a licensed electrical worker
• EMA: electrical installation licences
• HDB renovation guide for shop tenants and owners, December 2025

Homey Furnishing Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 202018148K), 27 Mandai Estate, #06-10 Innovation Place, Singapore 729931, invoices the permit-exempt visit. V On Construction Pte. Ltd. (ACRA UEN 201611708H), on the HDB Directory of Renovation Contractors, invoices hacking, a new layout, and an HDB renovation permit. Homey Furnishing is not a property agency, not a CEA practice, and not a vector-control operator.

How you're charged

A job that already has a sentence on HomeySG uses that sentence. The hour is not added on top of a band unless the written scope says so. There is no fuel surcharge and no published night premium except the mall overnight row. A shop does not inherit a flat’s price just because the fitting looks similar.

The socket, the appliance circuit, the single breaker and the office board overhaul are used only when the photo matches. A shop board that does not match is quote on inspection. The worker’s class is not a discount.

Ways to keep the bill smaller

• Put the chiller on its own way once, instead of resetting the till circuit every lunchtime.
• Send the approved-load letter with the photo. Guessing the class wastes the first visit.
• Do not add sockets in the last month if the yield-up wants them removed. The holes and the ways both get counted.
• Open the board in the mall’s allowed slot so the night row is not paid twice.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630.

Board rows are printed. A food-court main switch is not given a new number.

Anything not in that table is quote on inspection.

WhatsApp the photos to +65 8561 0630. The reply uses a band already printed on HomeySG, or it says quote on inspection.

• DB box and the printed bands
• Shop lighting points
• Choosing a licensed electrician
• HDB’s commercial electrical path
• Cameras, which are not a new circuit by default