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I live in the UK in a 70's terrace with absolutely none of the electrics from fuse box to kitchen required to run an electric cooker + hob. There are no spare holes in the fuse box.

I'd like an idea of the possible scale of work in having a professional add all the required wiring to "plug" an electric cooker into, before I ask someone in and get baffled by a complex quote. I am prepared to compromise aesthetically and run cables along ceilings and walls - if the law allows - to keep the work all about wires, and not floorboards and tiling.

Grimm The Opiner
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    We don't do cost questions, too much change from local to local place. No spare holes might be low or high cost, depending on primary power to the building, just change some breakers, or add a sub panel, or need your main power upgraded. Best bet is to have a local electrician come in and check what you have, what you need. You also need to figure out the size of the cooker/hob you need, used for heating one pot or feeding a family of ten. Is the size of what you have now, small, right, or too big to use it all, except for Christmas. – crip659 Apr 17 '22 at 23:33
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    Electric cookers use power, so need to expect your power bill to go up, while saving on your gas bill. Will need to check the difference of gas to electric, and expect electric to raise in price also. – crip659 Apr 17 '22 at 23:37
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    You really just need to get someone from your locality who does this kind of work to come discuss feasibility and cost with you. – Kyle Apr 18 '22 at 00:06
  • Some places also have government programs to help reduce the cost for some energy changes/updates/reductions, usually they might not be good match for you, not enough or want you to do too much. – crip659 Apr 18 '22 at 00:45

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The standard UK circuit for a cooker is a 6mm² cable fed by a 32A breaker. That will do for a normal free-standing electric cooker, or the equivalent oven and hob. If you want a huge "range" style cooker, it may need to go up to a 10mm² cable on a 40A breaker.

The minimal way to do it would be a small new consumer unit, to the latest specification, alongside the existing one. That way, the electrician takes no responsibility for what's already there. As a new circuit, it has to be done to the latest "wiring regulations", however old the rest of the house wiring is.

A better way would be to update the consumer unit ("fuse box") for the whole house, but that requires the electrician to check that every existing circuit is safe to reconnect, and that can open up a can of worms.

You are allowed to clip "twin and earth" cable direct to walls. It looks cheap and nasty, but is OK provided that the cable is run so that it isn't likely to be damaged. Plastic mini-trunking is slightly less tacky looking.

Simon B
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    For our leftpondian friends,"mini-trunking" is what you would call "surface mount raceway". 100% agreed on "slightly less tacky looking" on average,it could be much nicer (if the walls are nicely flat and corners are 90 degrees) or actually much uglier (that's what you get when you combine perfectly straight trunking with a wavy and uneven corner). – TooTea Apr 18 '22 at 17:44