Vermont Becomes First State to Require AFCIs

Vermont is the first state to adopt legislation requiring installation of arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCIs) in all new homes. The Vermont Electrical Board amended the state's electric code to require contractors to install AFCIs in bedrooms and all other 120V living area branch circuits in new residential construction by January 2001.

Vermont went several steps further than the 1999 National Electrical Code, which requires contractors to install AFCIs on bedroom branch circuits for receptacle outlets in new residential construction by January 2002. By advancing the date and expanding the number of circuits that will require AFCI protection, Vermont will undoubtedly influence many other states to adopt their own versions of AFCI regulations over the next year.

Square D introduced the first commercially available version of the AFCI in 1998, called the Arc-D-tect Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter.