Electricians
and electrical fitters
Electricians and electrical fitters assemble parts in the manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment, and install, maintain, and repair electrical plant, machinery, appliances and wiring.
- Employees (UK)
- 97k
- Median annual pay
- £39,187
- Exposure score ?
- 1.3/10 Minimal 2.7/10 Low strict reading, with tools is 2.7/10 with-tools reading, strict is 1.3/10
- Wage exposure
- £494m £1.03bn
Higher exposure than 65% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
A few tasks in this role are within reach of AI, mostly paperwork, scheduling and routine writing. The shape of the role stays the same, and some parts get faster.
If you are in this role
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try a model on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT already does with admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the gain.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Record maintenance information, including test results, material usage, and repairs made.
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Calibrate instrumentation, such as meters, gauges, and regulators, for pressure, temperature, flow, and level.
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Install, inspect and test electric meters, relays, and power sources to detect causes of malfunctions and inaccuracies, using hand tools and testing equipment.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Record maintenance information, including test results, material usage, and repairs made.
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Record meter readings and installation data on meter cards, work orders, or field service orders, or enter data into hand-held computers.
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Report hazardous field situations and damaged or missing meters.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Control and Valve Installers and Repairers, Except Mechanical Door" (49-9012.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 32 tasks, unaided
Record maintenance information, including test results, material usage, and repairs made.
Record meter readings and installation data on meter cards, work orders, or field service orders, or enter data into hand-held computers.
What still needs a person
30 of 32 tasks
Calibrate instrumentation, such as meters, gauges, and regulators, for pressure, temperature, flow, and level.
Install, inspect and test electric meters, relays, and power sources to detect causes of malfunctions and inaccuracies, using hand tools and testing equipment.
Test valves and regulators for leaks and accurate temperature and pressure settings, using precision testing equipment.
Turn meters on or off to establish or close service.
Shut off service and notify repair crews when major repairs are required, such as the replacement of underground pipes or wiring.
Install regulators and related equipment such as gas meters, odorization units, and gas pressure telemetering equipment.
Cut seats to receive new orifices, tap inspection ports, and perform other repairs to salvage usable materials, using hand tools and machine tools.
Disassemble and repair mechanical control devices or valves, such as regulators, thermostats, or hydrants, using power tools, hand tools, and cutting torches.
Turn valves to allow measured amounts of air or gas to pass through meters at specified flow rates.
Report hazardous field situations and damaged or missing meters.
Vary air pressure flowing into regulators and turn handles to assess functioning of valves and pistons.
Examine valves or mechanical control device parts for defects, dents, or loose attachments, and mark malfunctioning areas of defective units.
Mount and install meters and other electric equipment such as time clocks, transformers, and circuit breakers, using electricians' hand tools.
Connect regulators to test stands, and turn screw adjustments until gauges indicate that inlet and outlet pressures meet specifications.
Investigate instances of illegal tapping into service lines.
Trace and tag meters or house lines.
Repair electric meters and components, such as transformers and relays, and replace metering devices, dial glasses, and faulty or incorrect wiring, using hand tools.
Lubricate wearing surfaces of mechanical parts, using oils or other lubricants.
Replace defective parts, such as bellows, range springs, and toggle switches, and reassemble units according to blueprints, using cam presses and hand tools.
Measure tolerances of assembled and salvageable parts for conformance to standards or specifications, using gauges, micrometers, and calipers.
Clean internal compartments and moving parts, using rags and cleaning compounds.
Dismantle meters, and replace or adjust defective parts such as cases, shafts, gears, disks, and recording mechanisms, using soldering irons and hand tools.
Disconnect or remove defective or unauthorized meters, using hand tools.
Attach air hoses to meter inlets, plug outlets, and observe gauges for pressure losses to test internal seams for leaks.
Make adjustments to meter components, such as setscrews or timing mechanisms, so that they conform to specifications.
Repair leaks in valve seats or bellows of automotive heater thermostats, using soft solder, flux, and acetylene torches.
Splice and connect cables from meters or current transformers to pull boxes or switchboards, using hand tools.
Advise customers on proper installation of valves or regulators and related equipment.
Clean plant growth, scale, paint, soil, or rust from meter housings, using wire brushes, scrapers, buffers, sandblasters, or cleaning compounds.
Connect hoses from provers to meter inlets and outlets, and raise prover bells until prover gauges register zero.
Tasks via O*NET "Control and Valve Installers and Repairers, Except Mechanical Door" (49-9012.00).
What AI can already do
4 of 32 tasks, with tools
Record maintenance information, including test results, material usage, and repairs made.
Record meter readings and installation data on meter cards, work orders, or field service orders, or enter data into hand-held computers.
Report hazardous field situations and damaged or missing meters.
Advise customers on proper installation of valves or regulators and related equipment.
What still needs a person
28 of 32 tasks
Calibrate instrumentation, such as meters, gauges, and regulators, for pressure, temperature, flow, and level.
Install, inspect and test electric meters, relays, and power sources to detect causes of malfunctions and inaccuracies, using hand tools and testing equipment.
Test valves and regulators for leaks and accurate temperature and pressure settings, using precision testing equipment.
Turn meters on or off to establish or close service.
Shut off service and notify repair crews when major repairs are required, such as the replacement of underground pipes or wiring.
Install regulators and related equipment such as gas meters, odorization units, and gas pressure telemetering equipment.
Cut seats to receive new orifices, tap inspection ports, and perform other repairs to salvage usable materials, using hand tools and machine tools.
Disassemble and repair mechanical control devices or valves, such as regulators, thermostats, or hydrants, using power tools, hand tools, and cutting torches.
Turn valves to allow measured amounts of air or gas to pass through meters at specified flow rates.
Vary air pressure flowing into regulators and turn handles to assess functioning of valves and pistons.
Examine valves or mechanical control device parts for defects, dents, or loose attachments, and mark malfunctioning areas of defective units.
Mount and install meters and other electric equipment such as time clocks, transformers, and circuit breakers, using electricians' hand tools.
Connect regulators to test stands, and turn screw adjustments until gauges indicate that inlet and outlet pressures meet specifications.
Investigate instances of illegal tapping into service lines.
Trace and tag meters or house lines.
Repair electric meters and components, such as transformers and relays, and replace metering devices, dial glasses, and faulty or incorrect wiring, using hand tools.
Lubricate wearing surfaces of mechanical parts, using oils or other lubricants.
Replace defective parts, such as bellows, range springs, and toggle switches, and reassemble units according to blueprints, using cam presses and hand tools.
Measure tolerances of assembled and salvageable parts for conformance to standards or specifications, using gauges, micrometers, and calipers.
Clean internal compartments and moving parts, using rags and cleaning compounds.
Dismantle meters, and replace or adjust defective parts such as cases, shafts, gears, disks, and recording mechanisms, using soldering irons and hand tools.
Disconnect or remove defective or unauthorized meters, using hand tools.
Attach air hoses to meter inlets, plug outlets, and observe gauges for pressure losses to test internal seams for leaks.
Make adjustments to meter components, such as setscrews or timing mechanisms, so that they conform to specifications.
Repair leaks in valve seats or bellows of automotive heater thermostats, using soft solder, flux, and acetylene torches.
Splice and connect cables from meters or current transformers to pull boxes or switchboards, using hand tools.
Clean plant growth, scale, paint, soil, or rust from meter housings, using wire brushes, scrapers, buffers, sandblasters, or cleaning compounds.
Connect hoses from provers to meter inlets and outlets, and raise prover bells until prover gauges register zero.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Skilled trades occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons