Abstract: An electrical external resistor with a plate-like, electrical insulating carrier element and a flat resistance element arranged on the upper side of the carrier element. The carrier element has several films forming a closed coating and varying in their electrical conductivity. The films arranged on the upper side and on the lower side of the carrier element consist of cermet, and the film covering the edge area of the carrier element consists of an electrically insulating material. By means of springs or a pressure distribution plate, the resistance element is pressed against the upper cermet film of the carrier element. The interior space of the housing is filled with a casting compound made of addition cross-linking two-component silicon caoutchouc (rubber). The electrical external resistance is discharge-free.