Electrical work at home: what you can do yourself

Electrical work you can do yourself is severely limited in Norway. You can change plugs, hang up a lamp in a ceiling fixture and replace covers. Everything permanently connected to the 230 V installation — outlets, switches, heating cables, and everything in the bathroom — must be done by a company listed in Elvirksomhetsregisteret.

The rule behind electrical work you can do yourself

The legal opening for private individuals is one sentence. Regulation on electrical enterprises and qualification requirements (fek), FOR-2013-06-19-739, states in § 6 fifth paragraph: «Untrained persons may perform minor work on electrical installations if this is done in a safe and responsible manner.»

The main rule in § 6 first paragraph requires an electrical trade certificate for anyone who builds and maintains electrical installations. The rules are stricter than in many countries newcomers come from: you can buy outlets and heating cables in a shop, but you cannot install them.

The list of «minor work» itself is not in the law. The guidance to fek was removed from the regulation text on Lovdata on December 20, 2024 and now only exists at DSB (Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Management) on dsb.no. This is why Norwegian websites vary, and several state the incorrect number «FOR-2013-06-19-1147». The correct number is 739.

If you are new to the country, you can find more housing rules in the checklist for your first week in Norway on SamfunnPrep.

What you can do yourself — the complete list

The list of electrical work you can do yourself is short. DSB's guidance to fek § 6 lists six tasks for untrained persons:

• Change or connect two-pole plugs up to and including 25 amperes, with or without grounding.
• Change or connect two-pole extension outlets and appliance connectors up to and including 16 amperes.
• Connect and repair table lamps and wall lamps with flexible cords, including cord switches.
• Change light fixtures hanging in a ceiling fixture connected with a crown terminal («sugar cube») or plug, and which are not part of the fixed installation.
• Install and change heaters with flexible cords and plugs.
• Replace covers (faceplates) on switches, outlets and junction boxes.

Normal use is covered separately: changing a light bulb, screwing a fuse in or out, and testing the earth fault circuit breaker are considered operation, not electrical work (fek § 2 third paragraph letter a).

What a licensed electrician must do

Everything permanently connected to the 230 V installation must be done by a company listed in Elvirksomhetsregisteret.

Note the trap: you cannot install the materials yourself and ask an electrician to connect them. The Elsikkerhet portal, run by Elsikkerhet Norge AS for the local electrical authority (DLE), calls it «breach of regulations», and states that untrained persons may neither lay, install nor connect fixed heating cables.

What happens to your insurance if there is a fire?

The insurance company can significantly reduce the compensation. Under the Insurance Contract Act § 4-8, the company can disclaim full or partial liability if a safety regulation has been breached — but only if the damage is connected to the breach and you are more than slightly at fault.

Fremtind stated in 2021 that case law practice suggests «normally between 15–50 percent reduction». Frende Insurance stated at the same time that 20–30 percent is «relatively normal».

In one case mentioned in 2021, a detached house was totally destroyed in a fire. The damage cost approximately 1.8 million kroner, and the company reduced the compensation by 30 percent — over 500,000 kroner. The customer had done the installation himself without a trade certificate; the Financial Disputes Board sided with the company in the appeal. The amounts are from 2021, but the rule and case law practice still apply.

If damage has already occurred, see how to report a claim to your insurance.

How to check that the electrician is legal

Everyone who offers electrical work must be registered in Elvirksomhetsregisteret with DSB (fek § 3). The register is free and open:

• Go to elvirksomhetsregisteret.dsb.no.
• Search by company name or organisation number; «Detailed search» also lets you search by municipality.
• Check that the status is «Active». Only then can the company legally offer and perform the work.

Registration in Brønnøysundregistrene is not enough. If you use an unregistered company, you must pay for the corrections yourself afterwards.

If you have a trade certificate from abroad, you must apply to DSB for approval before you can work on electrical installations in Norway — even with qualifications from the EU/EEA. The fee is 3,200 kroner, and 2,400 kroner per additional occupation (fek § 14a, effective January 1, 2025). The deadline is four months, two months for temporary service provision, but DSB states as of August 7, 2026 that they cannot meet it. A friend with a trade certificate also cannot take on the job privately: fek § 5 requires permanent employment in the company.

You rent a home: who is responsible for the electricity?

Both landlord and tenant have responsibility: the Regulation on Low Voltage Electrical Installations § 9 places the duty on «owner and user», and you as a tenant are a user.

Here lies a real trap. The Rental Act § 5-3 second paragraph says that the tenant must «maintain ... electrical outlets and switches». Many read this as meaning they should replace them. This is wrong in two ways: the same paragraph says that replacement of the landlord's items «rests with ... the landlord», and after fek only a registered electrician company can replace a fixed outlet.

If you discover warm outlets or brown marks, report it to the landlord immediately (Rental Act § 5-5). If the landlord does not respond, you can demand repairs under § 5-7 and report to DLE. As a tenant, you only have tenant's contents insurance, not building insurance.

Compliance certificate and home sales from January 1, 2026

The compliance certificate is the electrician's written confirmation that the work complies with safety requirements. Under the Regulation on Low Voltage Electrical Installations § 12, it should be delivered to you as the owner, and § 13 says you should keep it. Demand it after each job.

From January 1, 2026 the certificate matters for sales. Regulation to the Conveyancing Act § 2-18, amended by FOR-2025-12-16-2614, requires the building inspector to find out when DLE last had an inspection and what the result was. If it is more than five years ago, the installation should be assessed in simplified form. If the installation was installed or changed after 1999, the owner should be asked for a compliance certificate. The building inspector should not set a condition grade on the installation.

If you are going to buy a home, see the guide on home purchase in Norway for immigrants.

DLE inspection in homes is free; it is covered by the grid fee. But for homes it can be up to 20 years between inspections, so you cannot count on anyone discovering faults for you.

How to keep your installation safe without touching it

You can do a lot without opening anything:

• Test the earth fault circuit breaker at least twice a year.
• Unplug the cord for the water heater, stove and washing machine twice a year, and look for brown marks.
• If you have screw fuses: tighten the caps once a year, and never use a larger fuse than the fuse chart says.
• Order an electrical inspection if it is more than five years since the last one.

How often electricity is the cause depends on who is counting. The insurance industry states that almost 43 percent of residential fires reported to insurance companies over the past five years had an electrical cause (Tryg Insurance, press release December 7, 2025). These are insurance claims, not emergency calls.

In DSB's open data for residential fires (November 2024–October 2025), electrical cause is stated as the suspected ignition source in 27.5 percent of 1,870 residential fires, while 32.8 percent are listed as unknown. The figures are SamfunnPrep's own compilation of DSB's dataset, not a published DSB statistic. The difference is because the cause is often not recorded.

It is smoke alarms and fire safety at home that save you when the installation fails.

Safety, housing and emergency preparedness are also topics you encounter in the civic knowledge exam — practice for free on SamfunnPrep.