Installation notice: which jobs must be reported to the grid operator — and which no longer since 2021

An installation notice (Installationsanzeige) must be submitted to the grid operator before work begins if the job is on the list in ESTI Directive 221: new installations and extensions that increase the load by more than 3.7 kVA, dismantling of more than 3.7 kVA, a new or altered grid connection, equipment causing grid interference, power generation systems, energy storage, charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, building mains and the grid operator's metering equipment, and temporary installations. Everything else has not been subject to the reporting duty since 1 July 2021. The duty applies equally to every holder of an installation permit, and the grid operator determines the content and form of the notice.

That is the short version. The long one is worth reading, because the 2021 revision turned the principle on its head — and because two things that look like a notice are not one.

What an installation notice is

An installation notice is the report of an installation job to the grid operator before the work is carried out — the form in which an electrical contractor fulfils its reporting duty under Art. 23 of the NIV (Low-Voltage Installation Ordinance). The NIV itself does not use the term; it speaks of "reporting duties". The ESTI (Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations) writes in its Directive 221 that this report is "referred to in practice as the ‹installation notice (IA)›".

Art. 23 para. 1 NIV says who owes it: "Holders of a general installation permit and those of a substitute permit must report installation work, before it is carried out, to the grid operator to whose low-voltage distribution network the electrical installation is connected." Art. 25 para. 1 says the same for holders of limited installation permits. The addressee is always the grid operator whose network the installation is connected to — not the ESTI.

Two things are not an installation notice, although they are often called one:

• The completion notice. After the final inspection, the owner reports completion of the work to the grid operator and sends it the safety certificate (Sicherheitsnachweis, SiNa) (Art. 24 para. 6 NIV). That is the end of the process; the installation notice is its beginning.
• The connection request. Whether a device may be connected to the grid — a wallbox, an inverter — is decided by the grid operator under its technical connection rules (Werkvorschriften). The installation notice reports the work; the request asks for connection approval. Many grid operators handle both in a single form, but they are two questions.

Since 1 July 2021: the list, not the principle

Until mid-2021 the principle stood without a list; exceptions were governed by an ESTI exemption of 30 November 2018, which Directive 221 repealed. With the revision of Art. 23 and 25 NIV, in force since 1 July 2021, the ESTI has the power "to lay down exceptions to the reporting duty" — and it has laid them down exhaustively in Directive 221. The principle is still in the directive ("all installation work" is to be reported), but section 3 turns it around: a report must be made in the following cases; "in all other cases there is no reporting duty".

The list, verbatim from the directive:

1. new installations and extensions of installations that result in a load increase of more than 3.7 kVA;
2. dismantling of electrical installations above 3.7 kVA;
3. creation of a new grid connection;
4. extension or alteration of the existing grid connection;
5. connection of equipment and systems that may cause voltage fluctuations, in accordance with the Werkvorschriften WV-CH;
6. connection of equipment and systems that cause harmonics, in accordance with WV-CH;
7. connection of active filters and absorption circuits in accordance with WV-CH;
8. connection of power generation systems linked to the low-voltage distribution network, in parallel as well as in island operation;
9. connection of electrical energy storage;
10. connection of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles;
11. new construction, alteration or extension of building mains, control lines and of the grid operator's metering equipment;
12. installations requiring the adaptation, fitting, removal or replacement of the grid operator's metering and control devices;
13. provisional and temporary installations such as construction sites, fairground installations and festivals.

The list applies "to all holders of installation permits" — the general, the substitute and the limited permit alike.

Three items on it are underestimated in practice. Charging infrastructure is on the list with no load threshold: a wallbox must be reported even if it stays below 3.7 kVA — the 3.7 kVA is the threshold for load increases in general, not for the charging station. Energy storage is a separate item on the list, independent of the PV system it belongs to. And temporary installations must be reported even though they disappear again: the construction-site installation is worth a notice, and so is the village fair.

What no longer has to be reported

Everything not on the list: replacing a socket, a light fitting, a household appliance; extending a final circuit in a way that increases the load by less than 3.7 kVA; an alteration that touches neither building mains nor metering equipment. Anyone who still sends an installation notice for these today is doing nothing forbidden — they are filling in a form nobody needs.

What does not go away with the reporting duty is the inspection. The initial verification during construction is mandatory for every installation job and must be recorded (Art. 24 para. 1 NIV), reported or not. Only the formal safety certificate may be dispensed with, and only if four criteria are met at the same time: repair or replacement of a low-voltage product, a change in load of no more than 3.7 kVA, no alteration to building mains, consumer lines or distribution lines — and no reporting duty under the list above. The report of the initial verification, handed to the owner, is then sufficient. What that report must contain is covered in the article «Measurement and test report: duty and content».

So the reporting duty and the certification duty are connected, but not in the way one might think: it is not the notice that triggers the safety certificate — rather, its absence is one of four conditions under which the certificate may be dispensed with.

Who signs, and in what form

The directive is precise here. For a general installation permit, the report is signed by a qualified person under Art. 8 NIV or by a person authorised to carry out inspections under Art. 27 para. 1 let. a NIV — in both cases one who is named in the installation permit. For a substitute permit, the person named in that permit. For a limited installation permit, the person carrying out the work.

So the electrician doing the job does not sign the notice; nor does the office that fills it in. It is the person named in the permit — and that person must currently be employed by the business, as the ESTI expressly states in its FAQ on the safety certificate.

The NIV does not prescribe the form. Since the reporting duty "serves exclusively the tasks of the grid operators", it is up to them, according to the directive, to specify the desired form — portal, form or email — and also "to determine for themselves" the content of the report. A business working in three grid areas therefore has three notices, and the question "what goes in it" has three answers.

What happens without a notice

The reporting duty is one of the duties attached to the installation permit, and the NIV makes breaching these duties an offence: Art. 42 let. c lists them "in particular" in seven items, so the enumeration is expressly not exhaustive. The penalty is set out in Art. 55 para. 3 of the Electricity Act (EleA).

In practice, what happens before any penalty matters more. A grid operator that learns of a reportable job only from the safety certificate has not checked the grid connection, has not ordered the meter and has not assessed the grid interference. It may request further information and demand the technical documents (Art. 38 para. 2 NIV), and it may refuse to connect an installation that does not comply with its Werkvorschriften. The business is then left with a finished installation that nobody will approve — and with a customer asking why.

A late notice is therefore better than none. The directive requires the report "in good time before work begins"; if you notice it is missing, submit it late and say so.

What this means for a business in practice

Three things the installation notice depends on day to day:

1. The list as a question in the job. Thirteen cases are not many. A job checked against the list when it is entered — load increase above 3.7 kVA? Charging station? Storage? Building mains? Temporary installation? — needs the notice before the electrician orders the material, not when it is being fitted.
2. The notice before the initial verification. The sequence is notice, work, initial verification, final inspection, safety certificate, completion notice. Send the notice together with the completion notice and you are reporting a job that is already done. How to tell the three inspections apart is covered in the article «Initial verification, final inspection, acceptance inspection».
3. The notice belongs with the installation, not the job. At the next alteration the grid operator asks for the last notice, and it is then in the folder of a job from six years ago. It belongs in the installation's dossier, next to the schematic, the measurement report and the safety certificate.

Today the list most often catches the charging station: it must be reported with no load threshold, and depending on the property the consent of the owners' association or the landlord comes on top. How the two fit together is explained in the article «Wallbox in condominium ownership».

Frequently asked questions

Does every electrical installation have to be reported to the grid operator? No, not since 1 July 2021. Only the thirteen cases in section 3 of ESTI Directive 221 must be reported — load increases above 3.7 kVA, grid connection, grid interference, power generation, storage, charging infrastructure, building mains and metering equipment, temporary installations. Everything else is exempt from the reporting duty.

Does a wallbox below 3.7 kVA have to be reported? Yes. "Connection of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles" is on the list with no load threshold. The 3.7 kVA applies to load increases in general, not to the charging station.

Who has to sign the installation notice? For a general installation permit, a qualified person or a person authorised to carry out inspections who is named in the permit; for a substitute permit, the person named there; for a limited permit, the person carrying out the work.

What is the difference between the installation notice and the safety certificate? The installation notice goes to the grid operator before the work and reports what will be built. The safety certificate goes to it after the final inspection and proves that it was built safely. One does not replace the other — and the certificate may be dispensed with only for work that is not reportable either.

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Sources: Low-Voltage Installation Ordinance (NIV, SR 734.27), Art. 23, 24, 25, 38 and 42, as of 31 October 2025, fedlex.admin.ch. Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations ESTI, Directive No. 221 «Meldepflichten bei allgemeinen und eingeschränkten Installationsbewilligungen» (reporting duties for general and limited installation permits), version 0621, valid from 1 July 2021. ESTI, FAQ «Periodische Kontrollen, Sicherheitsnachweise» (periodic inspections, safety certificates), as of 22 July 2021, esti.admin.ch. This article is not legal advice; in case of doubt, the responsible grid operator or the ESTI decides.