Yes, I thought about the description Kent gave of Swedish junction boxes as soon as I read yours. We've never used anything like that here. Conduit was used in some homes in the 1920s and 1930s, but (like modern conduit) it had no internal covering. The wires used back then were rubber insulated and normally had a kind of impregnated cotton covering.
There's nothing to stop anyone using metallic conduit in the home now, but of course the cost in materials and labor mean that it's almost never done. Since WWII just about all domestic wiring is sheathed cables, rubber at first, PVC since the 1950s. The fixture boxes for recessed switches and outlets are still usually metallic, and need to be grounded.
From your comparisons with U.S. wiring, would I be right in thinking that you have spent some time in America? If so, then you'll be aware of how American house construction varies from that found in Europe.
Here in Britain, though, we also have most houses built from brick, so the problems of plaster coverings put straight on to a brick wall sound very familiar.
As you describe in Austria, timber partitions with plasterboard (drywall) are now common for internal walls here, but exterior walls are still most often plaster on brick, making it difficult to run cables and to sink boxes into the wall. And many old houses have solid brick interior walls as well, though some have brick in strategic load-bearing areas and lath-&-plaster elsewhere.
Do you have most meters inside the house, or mounted in a panel outside? Do you have tariffs that provide cheaper power at night? What sort of prices do you have to pay per unit? Is there a fixed monthly charge, or does it vary depending upon the maximum rating of your service as in some other parts of Europe?
By the way, your English is pretty good!
