What does PlanElec's AREI self-check verify?

PlanElec contains two things that are easily confused.

AREI/RGIE references are linked publicly only after the documented source and subject-matter approvals. Practice rules and plausibility checks make no claim to quote the regulations.

The automatic self-check covers only part of it. This page states exactly which part. We list the rules that are checked and, just as plainly, the areas where the application makes no statement — because an incomplete check presenting itself as complete is more dangerous than no check at all.

The self-check is preparation. Only an accredited inspection body issues the official assessment.

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What is checked automatically

The application currently holds 56 checks. Of these, 29 point to a specific AREI article; the remaining 27 are practice rules or plausibility checks, marked as such, carrying no regulatory obligation.

A check only produces a result once the required project data has been entered. Where data is missing, the report marks the check as incomplete — never as passed.

Protection

Earthing

Cables and sizing

Circuit loading

Rooms and zones

Topology and control

Photovoltaic installation

Completeness of the file

Domotica

This section contains AREI checks, mandatory planning checks and profile warnings. It does not certify the entire extra-low-voltage installation, manufacturer conformity or physical bus routing. The bus supply source type cannot be recorded in the model (AREI 4.2.5.3.a).

Areas not checked automatically (not passed checks):

Disabled: not every internal extra-low-voltage component can be recorded and represented in the diagram. The claimed blanket June 2023 change is not established here. Only the documented control-point check is active.

Disabled: no evidence for a blanket requirement for a dedicated 30 mA bus circuit; type A is a general RCD requirement.

Disabled: cable adjacency, distance and insulation evidence cannot be recorded. The regulation permits several separation measures.

No automated symbol check: Table 2.23 J specifies the control-unit symbol (AREI 3.1.2.1.a). Users cannot correct missing catalog or renderer geometry.

What the self-check does not assess

These areas of Book 1 deliberately remain outside the automatic check:

Special installations and locations (Part 7). Of fourteen chapters, PlanElec touches three, each only in part: rooms containing a bath or shower (7.1), supply of electric road vehicles (7.22) and domestic photovoltaic installations (7.112). Not covered: swimming pools (7.2), saunas (7.3), construction sites and outdoor installations (7.4), conductive confined spaces (7.6), camping sites (7.8), marinas (7.9), fairground installations (7.11), fountains (7.100), stationary vehicles (7.101), explosive atmospheres (7.102) and industrial accumulator batteries (7.103).

The direct-current side. The model has no separate roles for the L+, L-, M, PEM and PEL conductors. Conductor selection, colouring, combined protective conductors, DC residual current sensitivity, protection of the M conductor and permanent insulation monitoring in an IT system are therefore not verifiable. For photovoltaics this remains manual work.

The transitional provisions of articles 59 and 69. Whether an exception applies to an existing installation depends on data that cannot be derived from a single-line diagram — among others the PEN cross-section, the actual start of work on site and the presence of a monitoring device. PlanElec does take the relaxations of Part 8 into account by presenting certain findings on existing parts as indications rather than errors, but does not decide the exception itself.

Inspections of installations (Part 6) and the rules of conduct (Part 9) fall outside the reach of a planning tool. Only the composition of the installation file is checked.

What software cannot establish in principle

Even after further extension of the model, these points remain dependent on measurement, documentation or visual inspection on site:

• the actual wiring, continuity and polarity of the conductors;
• the tripping characteristics and DC suitability of the devices actually installed;
• insulation measurement and the operation of a permanent insulation monitoring device;
• the mechanical and chemical resistance and corrosion state of the earthing;
• the effectiveness of automatic disconnection and the real earth impedance;
• the suitability and certification of inverters, batteries and PV components;
• zoning, risk assessment and on-site conditions.

What this means for your inspection

Use the self-check to catch avoidable mistakes early: a missing residual current device, a cross-section that does not match the protection, too many contact points on one circuit, an incomplete file. These are exactly the findings that otherwise surface only at inspection.

Do not rely on it for the cases listed above. There, your expertise and the judgement of the accredited body remain decisive.