I will appreciate if our Sparkies can shed some light on the bill that we have received from an electrician.

After a recent storm and 200mm rain in Durban. Lights for units 3 & 5 tripped at 8.30pm. Switched on at electricity DB room next morning and went out again after 30 min.
Electrician was called out and spent from about an hour finding/repairing the fault. Apparently also had something to do with the faulty DB board of no 5. Incorrect wiring caused no 3 to trip as a result. As the guy was very busy with call outs from storm damage, he came back to complete the job the following day.
The electrician forgot to switch the lights back on for unit 4 and he came back in the evening just for that purpose. He says he did not charge for the call out as it was his fault.

1st account received:
Call out unit 3&5, trip found, breakers blown and cable burnt, replaced breaker and cable tested OK R5,689.78 No detail provided.

We asked for a detailed account and received the following:

Call out unit 3&5, trip found, breakers blown and cable burnt, replaced breaker and cable tested OK
Call out after hours Quantity 3Unit price R550= R1650
Call out fee Q 1 unit R450 =R450
Replace breaker Q 1 unit R580 =R580
2nd day Trace & find fault Q 4 unit R450 = R1800
Replace splice and repair cable equipment Q 1 unit R1209.78 = R1209.78

TOTAL R5,689.78

Another account was generated for unit 5 to be paid by the owner:
Unit 5 supply and fit new earth leakage and redo reticulation on DB to standard R2,462.98

My query is - there was no after hours call-out, so that will not be paid.
- should the call-out fee not be covered by the actual hours worked? My understanding is that a call -out fee is to cover travelling expenses and time should there be no work generated.
- 4 hours for tracing and finding a fault @ R450 per hour?
- Is the fee for the specified work fair and above board?

As I am not an electrician and I do not want to call the guy an opportunist or at worst a liar, so I will appreciate some input from the experts.