What is the CIE?

If you're thinking of contracting more power for your home or you've moved into a newly built house and want to register your electricity supply, you may have been asked for the CIE. If your first question was, “What’s the CIE?”,  then it’s time to clear up the mystery. 

The CIE (Certificado de Instalación Eléctrica or Electrical Installation Certificate), also known as the "electrical bulletin", is a mandatory document for all dwellings. It’s issued by an authorised electrician to certify that an installation complies with all of the requirements for an electricity supply. When you get it, you’ll have the guarantee that your electrical installation is totally safe. 

We’ll also tell you what an “electrical bulletin” is. The CIE lists all the characteristics of the installation: 

• Address of the supply point
• Holder’s details
• Distribution company
• Installed and maximum permissible power
• Technical elements such as voltage or whether it's single-phase or three-phase
• Details of the company or installer that certifies and issues the bulletin

If you live in Catalonia: 

• Bear in mind that the issuing of a CIE must always be accompanied by the Declaración Responsable, a document of 8 or 9 pages that’s presented together with the CIE. The same electrician or installation company will advise you on how to process it.
• The BRIE might be sufficient. The BRIE (Boletín de Reconocimiento de Instalaciones Eléctricas or Electrical Installation Survey Bulletin), or blue bulletin is a document that's only required in Catalonia for supplies with a power of less than 20kW. It’s cheaper and means there’s no need for a CIE. However, if you already have a CIE, that will be valid for any supply and power to be installed.

And if you want to install solar panels at home…

You should know that at Holaluz we take care of managing the CIE of all our solar installations, so if you make your rooftop part of the Revolution, you can forget all about it. And not just about the CIE! The technical survey, financing, permits, licences and subsidies too, because we do all that for you.