A wrong rate is multiplied by every hour on the invoice.
Electricians, consultants and service technicians are often paid by the hour. The agreement then sets a price for each hour, usually with a separate rate for each role or level of qualification. Many agreements also limit when, and by how much, that rate can rise.
The rate can be wrong in several ways. It can be higher than agreed, belong to a more senior level, include an increase the agreement does not yet allow, or add overtime outside the agreed rules.
Below are two Watchdog examples, and what to agree with suppliers so that hourly rates are easy to check.
Two Watchdog examples
An electrician billed at NOK 950 an hour
The case
A Norwegian municipality bought electrical work under a framework agreement. A framework agreement sets prices and terms for several years without fixing how much will be bought.
What the agreement said
NOK 650 per hour for a skilled electrician. Once a year, the supplier could raise the rate by 80% of the rise in the consumer price index (CPI), which measures how prices change over time. Every increase needed approval from the regional procurement office the municipality buys through.
Even with every increase, the rate could be no more than about NOK 693 in early 2025 and NOK 711 later that year.
What was invoiced
In 2025, the supplier billed NOK 950 per hour on four invoices, for 311 hours of work. On the March invoice alone, the difference came to more than NOK 26,000.
The figures below measure against the highest rate the agreement could allow, so they are the smallest possible overcharge.
- Invoices
- 4
- Overcharged by
- 33.3%
- Total overcharged
- NOK 77,950
A service billed above the top rate
The case
Another Norwegian municipality bought a service billed by the hour.
What the agreement said
The agreement set a separate hourly rate for each level of qualification: NOK 572 for the level in this case, and NOK 818 for the top levels.
What was invoiced
Each invoice stated the level of the person who did the work. On many assignments at this level, the supplier billed NOK 1,300 per hour for the first half hour and NOK 950 for the next. Both rates are higher than the agreement's rate for the top levels.
Each line was small, often a few hundred kroner too much. Across 30 invoices from March to September 2026, it came to more than NOK 100,000. In the same months, the supplier billed other assignments at the agreed rate.
- Invoices
- 30
- Overcharged by
- 72.8%
- Total overcharged
- NOK 102,963
Our recommendation
Make every rate easy to check. Agree a rate for each role or level, say what qualifies someone for each level, and ask the supplier to show the level, the hours and the rate on every invoice line. Say what the rate includes, such as travel and tools, and when overtime applies.
Then control changes to the rate. Agree when it can rise and how the increase is calculated, and that a new rate applies only once you have approved it in writing. Check the next invoices against the rate you approved, not the rate the supplier last billed.