Frequently asked questions

NETA acceptance testing is the inspection and testing of new electrical equipment after it is installed and before it is energized, performed to the ANSI/NETA ATS standard. It confirms the equipment was installed correctly, was not damaged in shipping or installation, and arrived free of factory defects.

It also records the baseline readings (insulation resistance, contact resistance, breaker timing, transformer turns ratio, and the rest) that every later maintenance test is compared against. Many project specifications require ANSI/NETA ATS testing before the owner accepts the equipment, and it matters just as much for gear that has been relocated as for gear that is brand new.

AMP performs acceptance testing for new construction, expansions, and data center commissioning.

Acceptance testing happens once, before the equipment goes into service, to prove it was built and installed right. Maintenance testing, performed to ANSI/NETA MTS, repeats at intervals across the equipment's service life and compares each result against the acceptance baseline and earlier tests.

That trend is what makes maintenance testing worth doing: a reading that drifts a little each cycle gets caught as a planned repair instead of a failure. Most facilities need both.

NETA, the InterNational Electrical Testing Association, accredits independent, third-party firms that test, analyze, and maintain electrical power systems. An accredited company employs NETA-certified technicians and performs its testing to ANSI/NETA standards.

AMP is a NETA Accredited Company. For you, that means the person testing your gear has been trained and certified to a published standard, and the results are judged against the values in the ANSI/NETA standards rather than a technician's opinion.

Most of the power system, from the service entrance to the load:

• Medium- and low-voltage switchgear and switchboards
• Circuit breakers and protective relays
• Power and distribution transformers, including insulating oil analysis
• Cables and grounding systems
• Motors and motor control centers
• Standby generators and transfer switches
• Battery systems, UPS systems, and capacitors

If it is part of your power distribution system and it is not listed here, ask. Field Services covers the tests we run on each.

Some of it. Infrared thermography, visual inspections, power quality metering, and remote monitoring are all done with the equipment energized and the plant running. NFPA 70B calls these online tests.

Most electrical testing, including insulation resistance, contact resistance, breaker timing, and relay injection, has to be done offline, with the equipment de-energized. We plan that work around your scheduled outage windows, and use the online work between outages to decide what the next outage should focus on.

A written report for every job: the results for each piece of equipment, how they compare to the limits in the ANSI/NETA standards, the deficiencies found, and what we recommend doing about them.

Approved reports are published to ampOS ACCESS, where your team can view and download them alongside your equipment history, and they still arrive by email. Our technicians also walk your engineers through the results, so nothing in the report is left to interpretation.

Since the 2023 edition, NFPA 70B has been a standard rather than a recommended practice, so its requirements are written as mandatory language instead of advice. The 2026 edition keeps that status.

It is not a law by itself. It becomes enforceable when a jurisdiction adopts it or a contract or insurer requires it, and OSHA can reference it as the recognized industry practice. NFPA 70E also says equipment that was installed correctly may still not be safe to work on unless it has been properly maintained, which ties 70B to every arc flash label in your facility.

In practice, if you run a facility with electrical distribution equipment, plan on having a documented electrical maintenance program.

It depends on the condition of the gear. NFPA 70B sets maintenance intervals with an equipment condition assessment that rates three things: physical condition, criticality, and operating environment. The worst of the three decides which interval applies.

Under the condition tables introduced in the 2023 edition, switchgear works out to:

• Condition 1, the best rating: visual inspection every 12 months, with cleaning, lubrication, mechanical servicing, and electrical testing every 60 months.
• Condition 2: visual inspection every 12 months, with full service and testing every 36 months.
• Condition 3, the worst rating: visual inspection every 6 months, with full service and testing every 12 months.

Those line up with the 1-, 3-, and 5-year cycles most NETA testing programs already run on. Infrared thermography is on top of that, and where the manufacturer publishes its own maintenance intervals, those take precedence. The 2026 edition keeps the condition-based approach and adds the P-F curve method as another way to set maximum intervals.

We assess each piece of gear on a walkthrough and set the schedule from there. ServiceShield runs that schedule for you.

NFPA 70B calls for infrared thermography on all electrical equipment at least once every 12 months, and every 6 months for equipment at Condition 3. The scan is done energized, under normal load, so it finds loose connections, overloaded conductors, and failing components while the plant keeps running.

The 2026 edition also allows permanently installed temperature monitoring to satisfy routine thermal inspections, which can make sense for gear that is difficult to access.

Every exception in our infrared reports comes back with the thermal image, the temperature rise, and a repair priority.

An electrical maintenance program (EMP) is the documented plan NFPA 70B requires for keeping your electrical equipment safe and reliable. It is more than a testing schedule. The standard expects it to include:

• A named person responsible for each part of the program.
• A survey of your electrical equipment to set maintenance requirements and priorities.
• Written maintenance procedures and a plan of inspections, servicing, and tests.
• Records of the work, the equipment, and the people who did it.
• A process for documenting and correcting deficiencies.
• Regular review, so the program improves based on failures and findings.

AMP builds and runs these programs through ServiceShield, with quarterly inspections, planned NETA testing, and condition reporting in one subscription.

If anyone, your own staff or a contractor, works on or near energized electrical equipment, almost certainly yes. NFPA 70E Article 130.5 requires an arc flash risk assessment before that work, and the equipment has to be labeled with the hazard so the person in front of it knows what PPE to wear. Labeling is the equipment owner's responsibility.

NFPA 70E allows two ways to choose PPE: an incident energy analysis (the arc flash study) or the PPE category tables. The tables only apply within limits on available fault current and clearing time, which you need a short-circuit and coordination study to know anyway, so most facilities are better served by the study.

A study also does more than satisfy the requirement. It shows where the incident energy runs high and which protective device settings would bring it down. Engineering Services covers how we scope one.

At least every five years, and any time a major change is made to the electrical system. NFPA 70E sets that review interval for the arc flash risk assessment, and NFPA 70B applies the same five-year limit to short-circuit studies, coordination studies, and incident energy analyses.

Changes that call for an earlier update include a new utility transformer, added or removed large motors or generators, changed protective device settings, and new switchgear or feeders. When the utility changes the transformer feeding your facility, the available fault current changes with it, and so do your labels.

They are built on the same model of your electrical system, and each one depends on the one before it:

• Short-circuit study: calculates the fault current available at each point in the system and confirms your equipment is rated to interrupt and withstand it, as NEC Sections 110.9 and 110.10 require.
• Coordination study: sets each breaker, relay, and fuse so the device closest to a fault trips first, isolating one branch instead of the whole facility, while still clearing faults quickly.
• Arc flash study: uses the fault current and clearing times from the first two to calculate the incident energy at each piece of equipment, which sets the label and the PPE requirement.
• Load-flow study: shows how much power flows from each source to each load, so you know where the system is heavily loaded and where it has room to grow.

We usually scope them together. See Engineering Services for more on each.

An arc flash study assumes every protective device will trip as fast as its settings say it will. A breaker with dried-out lubricant or a sticking mechanism can take longer to clear a fault, and a longer clearing time means more incident energy than the label shows.

That is why NFPA 70E requires the arc flash risk assessment to consider each device's condition of maintenance, and why a study is only as good as the maintenance behind it. Testing your breakers and relays is what keeps your labels honest.

NFPA 70E requires retraining in safety-related work practices at intervals not to exceed three years. Retraining is required sooner when supervision or inspections show someone is not following those practices, when new equipment or procedures call for different practices, or when a worker takes on tasks they do not normally perform.

The training also has to be documented. AMP delivers NFPA 70E and 70B training on-site, built around your own equipment and arc flash labels, on whatever shift your crew works.

Keep everyone clear of it and do not re-energize it until it has been assessed. Water and smoke damage are not always visible, and equipment that looks dry can still fail when power is restored.

Then call AMP at (256) 513-8255, any hour. We start with a full assessment of the system so the decisions about repair versus replacement are made with real information, then handle on-site refurbishing, water damage mitigation, fire restoration, and sourcing for new or obsolete replacements.