The case in summary: • The Norwegian Electricity Authority is the state’s control body for electrical safety, and their main goal is to prevent accidents and fires.• All homes in Norway must be checked by the Norwegian Electricity Authority every twenty years on average.• The Norwegian Electricity Authority finds deviations in around half of the homes they inspect, and the errors they find can potentially prevent a fire.• The most common errors the Norwegian Electricity Authority finds are sockets that lack grounding and heating in electrical equipment, such as water heaters.• The home owner is responsible for making sure things are in order, but the Norwegian Electricity Authority offers a mandatory but free check, carried out by professionals.• The most serious faults can lead to a shutdown of the power supply until the problem is fixed. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – Not good! This must be fixed. Johan Emblemsvåg in the Norwegian Electricity Authority sneaks into a tight corner. Along the floor in a nook he finds a bundle of wires. Tape together with electrician’s tape. – This will be a deviation. It has probably been here since the water heater was disconnected, he says to the homeowner. We are inspecting a home just outside Kristiansand. The owner bought the 70s house a little while ago. The previous power line to the water heater has not been removed correctly. Photo: Espen Bierud / news The Norwegian Electricity Authority is the state’s control body for electrical safety. The aim of the controls is mainly to prevent accidents and fires. – I am happy that they are coming. It is good to have the system checked, says the new home owner Øystein Aabel, who himself has a diploma in electronics. He follows the further review of the house with interest. Knowing that the result will be a requirement to correct the errors. Johan Emblemsvåg investigates. The homeowner follows along excitedly. Photo: Espen Bierud / news What is the Norwegian Electricity Authority? The local electricity authority (DLE) is part of the grid companies. DLE’s task is to reduce the number of injuries and accidents caused by electric current. Most grid companies and local e-works are required by the Electricity Supervision Act to carry out inspections within their supply area. The local electricity supervision is therefore part of the public supervisory apparatus for electricity safety and exercises supervision, including market control of electrical products, under DSB’s control. Central tasks for DLE in the work to improve electrical safety are: Give advice on the use and maintenance of electrical installations and equipment, and inform about the causes of fires and accidents caused by electric current Carry out spot checks of electrical installations and equipment in private homes in accordance with established annual plans Inform children and young people about the importance of electrical safety through information work in schools. See www.brannvettskolen.no. Check that businesses that sell electrical equipment do so in accordance with laws and regulations, and that the equipment offered has an acceptable level of safety Check that installers who work with electrical installations have the necessary knowledge and secure routines to carry out the job in a safe way DLE exercises supervision on behalf of the Directorate for Community Safety and Emergency Preparedness, which is the public supervisory apparatus for electrical safety. source: Glitre Nett Everyone is checked In Norway, we have had electricity supervision for almost a hundred years. In the beginning, it was the police who could demand to check a house for fire traps. Nowadays, it is mainly the large power companies that take care of the inspections. On average, all homes must be checked every twenty years. Magne Haaland, who is responsible for this in Agder, says the scheme probably saves both lives and buildings. – We find deviations in around half of the homes. I mean that every single week our people find mistakes that in the long run prevent a fire. Magne Håland, head of the local electricity authority (DLE) in Glitre Energi Photo: Espen Bierud / news Haaland says one of the things that worries him the most is that even in new buildings they find errors in around 40 percent of the checks. – It is the homeowner’s responsibility that things are in order. But we offer a mandatory but free check, carried out by professionals. Fear of serious errors The Norwegian Electricity Authority divides the errors they find into three categories according to severity. The most serious errors can lead to the power being shut down until the problem is fixed, says Haaland. – It happens a few times a year that we have to shut off the electricity immediately. Then we always try to be helpful in getting an electrician as soon as possible. – What are typical situations where you have cut off the electricity to a home? – There have been, for example, hot runs on the mains intake and hot runs on the water heater. In the house outside Kristiansand, the kitchen is in charge. Johan Emblemsvåg pulls out a halogen spotlight from a hole in the ceiling. He points to the wire. – Look here, there is soot and the wire is a little melted. It has probably been too close to the hot lamp. Excessive heat in a ceiling spot has led to soot on the wire. Photo: Espen Bierud / news The inspection ends with two errors. None of them are of the most serious kind. Emblemsvåg says two deviations are small compared to what he is used to in houses from the 70s. Common errors According to Haaland, the most common errors found by the Norwegian Electricity Authority are sockets that lack grounding and heating in electrical equipment, such as water heaters. – Most people have things in order. Fortunately, we rarely find the extremely serious deviations where there is a direct risk of fire. The owner, Øystein Aabel, will soon receive a report with an obligation to correct errors within 90 days. – I will change all the spots to LED lights. It’s good for the electricity bill too. Control from the Norwegian Electricity Authority. Photo: Espen Bierud / news
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Half of all homes have faults in the electrical system – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
