Best card reader for electricians
Electricians tend to invoice for higher job values than most trades — rewires, consumer unit upgrades and EV charger installs regularly run into hundreds or thousands of pounds. At that ticket size, a small fixed fee per transaction matters less than the percentage rate, which changes which provider actually works out cheapest.
Best choice: myPOS
At £250+ per job, myPOS's 1.10% + 7p structure beats SumUp's flat 1.69% by a growing margin as job value rises — and its built-in 3G/4G connectivity is genuinely useful in basements, plant rooms and new-builds with patchy signal.
Best alternative: Lopay
If your work is a mix of smaller callouts (socket changes, fault-finding) and bigger jobs, Lopay's 0.79-0.99% flat rate is simpler to reason about and still cheaper than SumUp across most of that range, with Xero invoicing built in for billing after the job.
What an electrician's card takings usually look like
Job values for electricians vary more widely than most trades: a socket or light fitting repair might be £80-150, while a consumer unit upgrade, partial rewire or EV charger install can run £400-£1,500+. Because the percentage rate applies to the whole invoice, the gap between providers widens fast on the bigger jobs — worth checking your own average job value against the table below rather than assuming the cheapest headline rate wins.
| Provider | Best for | Card fee | Contract | WMP score | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mymyPOS | Higher-value jobs, built-in 3G/4G | 1.10% + 7p | None | See myPOS pricing (opens in a new tab) | |
LoLopay | Mixed job sizes, Xero invoicing | 0.79-0.99% | None | See Lopay pricing (opens in a new tab) | |
SuSumUp | Simplest, most established | 1.69% | None | See SumUp pricing (opens in a new tab) |
Beyond the headline rate
Certificate and invoice add-ons
EICR reports, minor works certificates and parts costs are often finalised after the visit. Lopay's Xero integration (0.29%+10p/invoice) and SumUp's Invoices Plus (£8/mo) both let you bill once the paperwork is done.
Working in signal-dead spots
Consumer unit changes often happen in basements, garages or plant rooms where a phone-paired reader can drop connection. myPOS's built-in SIM avoids relying on your phone's signal or a Bluetooth link.
Large one-off jobs
If you regularly invoice £1,000+ jobs (rewires, EV installs, commercial work), it's worth asking myPOS or Lopay whether a negotiated rate is available above a certain monthly volume — the standard published rate isn't always the ceiling.
Fast payout
SumUp and Lopay both pay out by the next business day, which helps cash flow between materials purchases on back-to-back jobs.
An electrician invoicing £6,000/month in card payments
At an average job value of £500 (12 jobs/month) — a mix of small callouts and larger installation work:
| myPOS (1.10% + 7p × 12) | £66.84/month |
| Lopay Standard (0.99%) | £59.40/month |
| SumUp (1.69%) | £101.40/month |
At this blended average, Lopay is actually still cheapest — myPOS only overtakes it once individual jobs regularly clear roughly £700-800, since myPOS's fixed 7p-per-transaction cost is spread over fewer, larger invoices. Run your own average job value through both formulas before choosing.
Frequently asked questions
What's the best card reader for an electrician?
myPOS for higher-ticket jobs and signal-dead sites; Lopay as the cheapest all-rounder for mixed job sizes; SumUp for the simplest, most established option.
Do I need a reader with its own SIM?
Only if you regularly work in basements, plant rooms or new-builds with poor signal — myPOS's built-in 3G/4G avoids depending on your phone's connection.
See the full tradespeople breakdown
More detail on on-site reliability and invoicing tools across all trades.
Methodology: Pricing pulled directly from mypos.com, lopay.com and sumup.com official UK pricing pages on 30 July 2026. Typical electrician job values are directional estimates based on common UK job types, not an independent survey. See our Editorial Policy.