An electric rooflight costs £1,600 to £2,300 fitted as a like-for-like roof window replacement, £2,900 to £3,900 for a flat rooflight up to 1000 x 1000mm in a new opening, and £4,400 to £5,900 at 2000 x 1000mm. Add £180 to £900 for the electrical connection, depending on whether the ceiling is open.
Those are supply and fit figures for the Ipswich, Suffolk and north Essex area, covering the unit, the actuator, the rain sensor, the controls and all weathering on a single-storey roof with reasonable access. We publish them because a quote you cannot compare against anything is not really a quote.
Installed price by size
| Job | Supply and fit | Days on site |
|---|---|---|
| Electric opening roof window, like-for-like replacement | £1,600 to £2,300 | 1 |
| Electric flat rooflight up to 1000 x 1000mm, new opening | £2,900 to £3,900 | 2 |
| Electric flat rooflight 1500 x 1000mm, new opening | £3,600 to £4,800 | 2 to 3 |
| Electric flat rooflight 2000 x 1000mm, new opening | £4,400 to £5,900 | 3 |
| Electric opening vent added to a roof lantern | £700 to £1,300 | Within the lantern install |
| Electrical connection, ceiling already open | £180 to £400 | Electrician’s visit |
| Electrical connection, finished room including making good | £350 to £900 | Electrician’s visit |
The jump from a replacement roof window to a new flat rooflight opening is not the rooflight. It is the structure: cutting the deck, forming trimmers or a ring beam, and building an insulated upstand to a minimum 150mm above the finished roof surface at its lowest point, 200mm on exposed coastal sites. That work exists whether the unit opens or not.
What sits inside the figure
Take the 1500 x 1000mm flat rooflight at £3,600 to £4,800 and it breaks down roughly like this. The proportions shift with size, but the shape holds.
- The glazed unit and frame. The largest single element. Double or triple glazed, thermally broken frame, and the glazing specification moves it more than anything else. Solar control glass at a g-value around 0.3 is priced with the unit and is worth having on a south-facing roof.
- The actuator. A chain actuator is the domestic default: 200 to 500mm stroke, 200 to 300N closing force, concealed in the frame profile. A hinge or spindle actuator adds 40 to 90 per cent on that element and is only needed on large sashes, exposed sites and AOV work.
- Rain sensor and controls. Sensor pad, receiver and a radio handset on 868MHz are standard. A heated sensor pad, a wall switch or a smart home gateway are additions rather than assumptions.
- Structure and weathering. Trimmers or ring beam, insulated upstand, roof covering dressed up and over, or the flashing kit and re-hung tiles on a pitched roof. On coastal work, 316L stainless throughout and sealed cable entries, included rather than added.
- Labour and access. Two to three days on site. Scaffold on a two-storey or restricted-access roof is quoted separately.
The electrical connection is deliberately shown apart from all of that. We are skylight installers, not electrical contractors, and everything from the consumer unit to a fused connection unit near the rooflight is a qualified electrician’s work, certified to BS 7671. It is also the item that genuinely varies, from £180 on an open ceiling to £900 in a finished room where the cable has to come through a floor above. We walk the route at survey and put a real figure in the quote rather than writing “electrical connection by others”. The detail is on getting power to a rooflight in a finished flat roof.
The premium over a fixed rooflight
This is the number people actually want. On a like-for-like comparison, same size, same glazing specification, same roof:
- Electric over fixed: roughly £600 to £1,100 on the unit and fitting, plus £180 to £900 for the electrical connection. On a finished room that is a total premium approaching £2,000 at the top end, which is worth knowing before you specify three of them.
- Electric over manual opening: roughly £400 to £700 on the unit, plus the same electrical connection. The mechanism and the rain sensor are most of it.
- Adding an opening vent to a roof lantern: £700 to £1,300 within the lantern installation, because the access and the flashing are already paid for.
Our honest guidance at survey is that you rarely need every rooflight to open. Make the highest one electric, because warm air stratifies at ceiling level. Make the unreachable one electric. Leave a bedroom unit at chest height manual and put the money into glazing. Electric or manual opening rooflight works through that choice properly.
No cable route, no problem. If the survey finds no honest way to get mains to the unit without wrecking a finished room, we price a solar unit alongside so you can compare like for like. Solar sits higher on the unit and lower overall once the electrician drops out. See what a solar rooflight costs.
What moves it up
- Structural work. A ring beam or a trussed roof solution is quoted once the engineer’s design exists. The biggest single variable on retrofit work, and the one nobody can price from a photograph.
- Scaffold. Two-storey or restricted access, quoted separately.
- Hinge actuator. Add 40 to 90 per cent on the actuator element.
- Coastal specification. Included as standard within a mile of open sea at Felixstowe, Harwich or Aldeburgh, not an upsell.
- Lead time, not cost, but it affects your programme. Standard electric units run three to five weeks from order.
Is the quoted price fixed?
Yes, after survey. The table above is a genuine range rather than a lead-in figure. Once we have measured the opening, checked the structure and walked the cable route, you get one written price covering the rooflight, the actuator, the controls and the electrical connection together, and that is what you pay. Every installation carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee.
Why is the electrical work priced separately?
Because it varies by a factor of five depending on your ceiling, and because it is a qualified electrician’s work rather than ours. We show it as its own line so you can see exactly what the route is costing you, and so a solar alternative can be compared honestly against it.
Get a fixed price
Tell us the room, the roof type, the size you have in mind and whether it is a replacement or a new opening. We survey the structure, the fall or the pitch, the exposure and the cable route, then price it as one figure.
Request a fixed quote, or read the hub page on electric skylight installation for the specification decisions behind the price.
Thinking about this job? We survey across Ipswich, Suffolk and north Essex and give you a fixed price before any work starts, with a 10-year workmanship guarantee.