Factual answers to the questions we are asked every day.
The OIBT is the Swiss Federal Ordinance on Low-Voltage Electrical Installations (SR 734.27). It requires every owner to have the safety of their electrical installations checked periodically by an independent inspection body. The result is a safety report, which your grid operator (electricity distributor) requires. It is a Swiss legal obligation, not an option. Similar to the roadworthiness test for cars. (The OIBT also governs the final inspection, the acceptance inspection, the five-year inspection and other matters…)
The owner of the installation. For a detached house, that is you. For a rental building, it is the owner or their property management company. For a condominium (PPE), the common areas are the responsibility of the community and each unit that of its owner. The tenant is never responsible for the inspection. But they must promptly report any defect to the owner, and give access during the inspection.
The interval depends on the type of installation: 20 years for homes, 10 years for offices and workshops, 5 years for premises open to the public (nursing homes, restaurants, schools, hotels) and all old installations without an earth connection, in Schéma III, « SH3 », (no yellow-green wire), 1 year for construction sites and markets. Your grid operator keeps the register and writes to you when the deadline comes up. If in doubt, we check the interval for your property free of charge.
This letter asks you for a safety report within a set deadline, usually 6 months. Appoint an independent inspection body — such as us — before the deadline. We inspect, draw up the safety report and the test and measurement report, and send it directly to the grid operator for you. Do not let the deadline pass: the file would go to the Federal Inspectorate ESTI, with a fee of CHF 700 charged to you.
The periodic inspection checks an existing installation at a fixed interval (20, 10, 5 or 1 year; SH3 installations, without a separate protective conductor: 5 years whatever the use). The acceptance inspection checks a new or modified installation, independently of the installer who carried out the work, within 6 months of the final inspection and handover (applicable to installations that are not residential or that are in SH3). The final inspection is carried out by the installer themselves at the end of their work — they may delegate it. For the acceptance and periodic inspections, the inspection body must be independent of whoever did the work. All about Schéma III (SH3) →
You receive an inspection report describing the defects: what, where, why. You pass it on to the electrician of your choice, who corrects them and then returns the certificate to us. Your file is then closed with the grid operator. A defect is not a penalty — it is a correction to be made within the grid operator's deadline, and we follow the file through to the end.
For private clients, our prices are flat rates incl. VAT: CHF 359 for an apartment, from CHF 459 for a detached house, CHF 599 for a solar PV acceptance inspection. Private clients get a 15% discount when paying on site during the inspection. The price includes everything: travel, measurements, report and transmission to the grid operator. For businesses and multi-site clients, the price list is tiered by volume — quote on request. See the full price list →
Before ordering and paying a deposit: check that the company is listed in the ESTI register of installation authorisations, ask your grid operator whether it knows them, and take a look at the Google reviews. We are listed in the ESTI register ourselves — inspection authorisation K-284772-1 — and we help regularise undeclared work or solar installations left unfinished. But prevention is better than cure.
Each fitted-out room counts as one room — a cellar converted into a games room = 1 room, a garage converted into a workshop too. Bathrooms beyond the first also count: 3 bathrooms = 2 extra rooms. Also count one extra room for each of these: swimming pool, charging station, jacuzzi, sauna, hammam. Not counted: kitchen, storage room, WC, garage, garden shed (if not converted into a workshop), cellar, wine cellar, laundry room, boiler room. Solar PV installation: after counting the rooms, move up to the next price tier. The prices shown include a 15% discount for payment during the inspection (Twint or cash).
If the grid operator's deadline expires without a safety report, your file is passed on to ESTI, the Swiss Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations. ESTI sets you a final deadline and charges a fee of CHF 700. At that stage you need to act fast: we intervene as a priority within 2-3 working days to deliver the report before the deadline. See urgent inspections →
We are an independent inspection body, ESTI-accredited under authorisation K-284772-1. We sell no installation work and receive no commission from electricians. That is a legal requirement of the role — and your guarantee: a reported defect is a real defect, not a disguised quote.
When a property is sold, the notary requires a valid safety report — it proves that the installation is compliant. If the last inspection dates back more than 5 years before the transfer of ownership, a new inspection is required. We intervene as a priority when a transaction is waiting.
Emergency lighting marks the exits and lights the escape routes in the event of a power failure. Every premises open to the public is concerned: nursing homes, daycare centres, schools, hotels, restaurants, shops. The units must work, be visible and be maintained with an up-to-date log. Our audit checks all of this. See the audit →
With a framework agreement: a single price list, coordinated scheduling site by site with your local teams, reports in the same format everywhere, and a consolidated schedule for head office. You start with a review of your portfolio: send us the list of your sites and you receive the full schedule within a few days, with no commitment. See the business pathways →
Yes: a case documented by RTS in the canton of Vaud highlighted this risk on a farm, with livestock losses linked to stray currents. According to industry experts, the problem does not come from the solar panel itself, but from an electrical installation that was poorly designed, poorly connected or insufficiently inspected. That is exactly what an independent inspection checks at the acceptance of a solar PV installation: earthing, continuity of exposed conductive parts, absence of leakage currents — by a body separate from the one that installed the system.
Also beware of PV installation sellers: make sure with your grid operator or ESTI that the company is authorised. We regularly intervene on orphan installations, abandoned by their installer, or carried out by companies without authorisation… The cost of validating them officially afterwards is sometimes very high… Solar panels: takeover and validation →
A few brief power cuts may be needed for the measurements, a few minutes at most. Allow 1 h for an apartment, 1 h 30 to 2 h 30 for a detached house depending on size. For shops and establishments, we schedule outside peak hours or outside service hours so as not to disrupt operations.
Not much: access to the electrical panel and the rooms, and the grid operator's letter if you received one. If you are a tenant and the property management company ordered the inspection, your only task is to be present or to guarantee access.