Burkina Faso

Getting Electricity in

Burkina Faso

Below is a detailed summary of the procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain an electricity connection for a newly constructed building in Burkina Faso.

This information was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 185 economies. The most recent round of data collection was completed in June 2012.

Compare Burkina Faso to 185 other economies.

  • Standardized Company

  • Name of Utility: Société Nationale d’Electricité du Burkina (SONABEL)
  • City: Ouagadougou

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 The client applies for electricity connection and awaits external inspection from the Société Nationale d’Electricité du Burkina (SONABEL)

The client applies for electricity connection in person. In addition to the application form, they need to submit a (simple) copy of the ID and a (simple) copy of the title deed.
Agency: Société Nationale d'Electricité du Burkina (SONABEL) 		21 calendar days no charge
* 2 The client obtains external inspection by the Société Nationale d’Electricité du Burkina (SONABEL)

After the application, inspectors from the electricity company, the Société Nationale d’Electricité du Burkina (SONABEL), check the site to determine the specifics of the connection.

In addition to the site inspection, an inspection of the entire internal wiring should theoretically also be carried out by the Ministry of Housing or the Ministry of Infrastructure. However, in practice this is never done. The customer could also request an inspection of the internal installation from one of the private companies subcontracted by the utility, but this is optional.

Agency: Société Nationale d'Electricité du Burkina (SONABEL) 		1 calendar day no charge
3 The client awaits and obtains external connection works by the Société Nationale d’Electricité du Burkina (SONABEL)’s contractor

The trend is to subcontract the works (80-85% of the connection projects) to a private firm, which means Sonabel puts a contract out to public tender.
These companies include, among others: SOGETEL, SIMEEL, CEDEL, PPI, EODA, and SEEF.

A substation is needed in this case. The material is usually available, and is either bought from the electricity utility or provided by the contractor (more common).
Once the utility has picked a contractor, they prepare an estimate of the costs that the customer could then pay at the utility’s offices.

Agency: SONABEL's Contractor 		133 calendar days XOF 35,000,000.0
4 The client obtains meter installation and final connection by the Société Nationale d’Electricité du Burkina (SONABEL)

Meter installation is done separately by the utility. In this case, a 'double tarif' meter is installed.
Agency: Société Nationale d'Electricité du Burkina (SONABEL) 		4 calendar days XOF 783,647.7
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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