During 2022, nearly 29,000 damages caused by fire and lightning were cov-ered by home, houseowner, vacation home, boat, as well as business and real property insurance. For these damages, insurance companies paid out a total of just under 6.6 SEK billion in insurance compensation.
The amount of com-pensation for fire and lightning damages varies greatly depending on the type of property that has been damaged, its assessed value, and the extent of the damage. The number of damages caused by fires and lightning is rela-tively low. Out of the total number of damages that occurred in residences and businesses in 2022, fires and lightening accounted for just under three per cent. However, these damages accounted for almost a third of the total amount of all claims payments for households and businesses. Most of all fires, 77 per cent, occur in residences, while 23 per cent occur in businesses.
In many cases, it can be difficult to determine the exact cause of a fire. Out of the number of fires that occurred during the period 2017–2022, one-third (34 per cent) had an undetermined cause. The paid claims amount for these damages accounted for 62 per cent. This is partly because it can be almost impossible to investigate the exact cause of the fire if a building has been completely burned down, and the cost of reconstruction becomes higher when the property is completely destroyed and needs to be rebuilt. Among the fires where the cause could be determined, various types of electrical fires are the mainly cause for expensive damages. During the period 2017–2022, a total of almost 24,000 fires caused by various electrical faults occurred. This could involve short circuits in appliances and electrical faults in fixed installations. In total, during this 6-year period, 6.2 billion SEK were paid out due to electrical fires.
