According to EDF and Promotelec, an organization charged with promoting the safety of electrical installations, 7.3 million homes in France dating from before 1974 do not meet the minimum standards for electrical safety. The director of Promotelec has said that there are two levels of concern.
- The first level concerns stripped insulation, bare cables and damaged switched and sockets.
- The second, which is less obvious and more difficult to define, concerns the risk of electrical installations more than a quarter of a century old when the non-visible parts of an electric circuit can be potentially dangerous.

The numbers are frightening: 22.5% of French residences present an electrical risk. In fact 7.5% are equipped with electrical installations that are qualified as “very dangerous” in a study by the organisation, Promotelec. Each year 300 000 installations are added to the 7 millions needing a partial or total renovation. The anomalies concern essentially the circuits in the bathrooms, the earthing arrangements, the consumer units and the existence of proscribed components. As well as these disquieting facts, there are some that are even more dramatic: defective electrical installations kill 100 people and cause 80 000 fires in France every year. (Source: Thierry Devige-Stewart, Le Moniteur, 03/11/2006)

If you have doubts about the safety of the electrical system in your home you could commission promotelec to inspect your property or contact Masters Electricite to arrange for an inspection to be carried out. French domestic wiring standards are very strict and for a new electricity supply, you need to have an attestation de conformité (a certificate of compliance) from Consuel (link on links page), which is issued only after an inspection, before you can get a connection from EDF. If Consuel require additional work to be done you will have to pay for another visit before the work will be passed.

The likelihood of being affected by lightning can be determined by the number of lightning strikes per square kilometre per year, the result is the Ng value or Ground Flash Density. For the Haute Vienne, the Ng value is 2,3; the Charente is 2,1 and the Dordogne is 2,7. Where the Ng value is greater than 2,5, it is obligatory to install a lightning protection system. It is also strongly advised where the property is either in an isolated position, closer than 50m to trees or buildings higher than 20m or supplied by overhead power lines. The protection of telephone lines is as important as the electrical system as these are also vulnerable to the effects of lightning strikes.