How to charge for electrical work is two decisions and one piece of arithmetic. The decisions are flat rate or time and material, and they depend on whether the scope is known before the work starts. The arithmetic is the same under both: the loaded cost of the electrician's hour, the overhead recovered per billable hour, the material at a markup and the margin the shop has decided to earn. The cost calculator on this site does the arithmetic from your own numbers; this page is the reasoning behind the two decisions.
Flat rate when the scope is known
A panel change, a ceiling fan, an EV charger on a known run: the task has a standard time and a material list, so it has a price the customer can approve before the work starts and that does not move if the electrician is slow. Flat rate shifts the efficiency risk to the contractor and removes the price argument from the customer's side.
Time and material when it is not
Troubleshooting a fault nobody can see, or work behind walls nobody has opened, has no standard time. Time and material at a stated rate, with the material at a stated markup, is honest for both sides, and the invoice shows the hours and the parts. The scope of work says which basis applies before the truck rolls.
The arithmetic under both
Whichever basis, the rate is built the same way: the loaded hour, the overhead per billable hour, the markup and the margin. A shop that quotes flat rate from a book priced on a bare wage is under-priced on every job, and one that quotes hourly at the wage plus a little is working for the customer.
The market the rate sits in
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' occupational outlook for electricians, cited below, is the public reference for the trade's wage picture; what a shop charges is that wage loaded, overheaded and margined, not the wage.
Questions people ask about how to charge for electrical work
Should I show the customer my hourly rate?
On time and material work, yes, before the work starts. On flat rate work the customer sees the task price and does not need the rate behind it.
How do I set a minimum charge?
From the cost of the trip: the drive, the first hour and the overhead it carries. The cost calculator prices one task; price the trip as a task.
What if the flat rate job takes longer?
The price stands; that is the deal. The job record shows the real time, and the book is adjusted for next time.