CIEs

The electrical installation certificate (CIE): summary

The electrical installation certificate, known by its Spanish initials CIE, is the document with which an authorised installer declares that a low-voltage installation complies with the applicable regulations and matches its technical documentation. It records the installation's key characteristics, notably the maximum admissible power, which caps the power that can be contracted. It is required for new supply connections, power increases, significant modifications and the legalisation of undocumented installations, and distributors may also request a recent one for changes of ownership or supply reactivations.

Only an installation company authorised in the category matching the installation can issue a CIE, and that authorisation is evidenced by an entry in the Registro Integrado Industrial. Captia is entered as a low-voltage installation company, so within that category we issue the certificate ourselves rather than going through an outside installer. Larger installations also require a project or a technical design report signed by a qualified technician; our engineers are chartered industrial engineers, so we draft and sign that documentation too, as described on our technical reports page. In everyday Spanish the document is called "boletín eléctrico": same document, colloquial name. This page covers the document and its framework; the practical procedure is described on our electrical reports page.

To take effect, the certificate must be registered with the competent regional industry body; only then will the distributor accept it. It has no fixed expiry date, but any modification, power increase or change of use makes it outdated and requires a new one. Captia covers the full cycle for industrial, commercial and infrastructure environments: verification, issuance, technical documentation and processing with the distributor and the administration, within the wider Captia Energy portfolio.

One firm for engineering, certification and filing

The regulation separates two conditions: issuing the certificate, which falls on the registered installation company, and signing the technical documentation that goes with it, which falls on a qualified technician. When those conditions sit in different companies (an engineering firm that drafts and an installer that certifies), the file changes hands along the way, and each handover means coordinating two schedules and two signatures.

Captia meets both conditions. It is entered in the Registro Integrado Industrial as a low-voltage installation company, which is what allows it to issue the CIE, and its engineers are chartered industrial engineers, which is what allows it to draft and sign the accompanying technical design report or project. The practical effect is that the maximum admissible power on the certificate comes from the same calculations as the report, that a single party answers to the administration and the distributor, and that the installation ends up documented in a form the same team can go on to monitor.

One exception is imposed by the regulation itself: where an initial inspection applies, it is carried out by an independent authorised control body. That independence is a legal requirement, not a gap, and it is set out below.

Inspection and maintenance in the Valencian Community

In industrial and public-use premises the certificate rarely travels alone. The Spanish low-voltage regulation requires an initial inspection by an authorised control body before commissioning for the installations listed in ITC-BT-05: industrial installations that require a project with more than 100 kW installed, premises open to the public, class I fire or explosion risk premises, wet premises above 25 kW, swimming pools above 10 kW, operating theatres, outdoor lighting above 5 kW and electric-vehicle charging infrastructure that requires a project. The same installations are then inspected every five years, and shared installations in residential buildings with more than 100 kW installed every ten.

When that initial inspection applies, the filing route changes: on the Generalitat's electronic office the file moves from procedure 434 to procedure 436 (SIA code 210645), which on top of the project and the site supervision and completion certificate (CERINSBT) requires the control body's inspection certificate (CERTOCA). It is filed with the territorial industry, energy and mining service of the province and, like every industry and energy procedure, electronically only (Orden 14/2022, of 5 December). The inspection is carried out by an independent authorised control body, separate from whoever executes, certifies or files the installation.

The Valencian Community also adds an obligation of its own that is easy to forget once the file is closed. Orden 6/2022, of 15 June (DOGV no. 9372, 30 June 2022) governs the maintenance of low-voltage electrical installations in premises open to the public: holders of the premises listed in its annex I must contract a maintenance service with an authorised low-voltage installation company, with reviews at least once a year covering visual checks, tests and measurements. The CIE closes the legalisation; in public-use premises it also opens a maintenance cycle that has to be kept up.

Verified on 9 August 2026 against ITC-BT-05 of the low-voltage regulation (Real Decreto 842/2002), the sede.gva.es record for procedure 436 and Orden 6/2022, of 15 June, published in the DOGV. Rules are updated periodically, so check the text in force before planning a file.