Chile

Getting Electricity in

Chile

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 Chile.

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.

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  • Standardized Company

  • Name of Utility: Chilectra
  • City: Santiago

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 The customer submits a service application in person with Chilectra and awaits that Chilectra issues an estimate for the project

The customer submits an application with Chilectra in person. Based on the application Chilectra will prepare a technical project for the connection and will issue an estimate of the costs. Chilectra requires a number of supporting documents with the application:

• Address of the premise that is to be connected
• Sketch of the location of the premise
• Certificate of prior conditions ("Certificado de condiciones previas")
• Construction plans detailing the layout of the floors (not needed for a warehouse)
• Plan of the layout of infrastructure services (such as water and gas pipes) that might interfere with the civil works. Specifications of the type of connection required (overhead/underground, 1- or 3-phased, traditional or with a concentrador de medida)
• Required load (in kW)
• Type of consumption tariff requested, which can be for example AT-3, AT-4.3 if the metering is for medium voltage or BT-3, BT 4.3 if metering is for low voltage. The decision on which tariff to choose will depend on the consumption profile for the warehouse.
• Coordinates of the customer (Name, tax registration number, bank account information, commercial address, telephone, legal representative)
• Coordinates of the applicant (Name, tax registration number, bank account information, commercial address, telephone) • Coordinates of the contact person on the construction site to coordinate connection works.
• Date by which the supply will be need to be turned on
• In case that the maximum load will only be reached over time, indicate the a profile of the timeline

Agency: Chilectra 		15 calendar days CLP 401,292.5
* 2 Receive external inspection by Chilectra

A few days after receiving the application Chilectra will conduct an inspection in situ to identify the exact connection point.
Agency: Chilectra 		3 calendar days no charge
* 3 The customer has to sign the supply contract in front of a notary

If the customer is the owner of a limited company, he has to sign the supply contract in front of a notary attesting to his role as the owner of the company.
Agency: Notario 		1 calendar day CLP 2,500.0
4 The customer pays the connection costs and awaits that Chilectra executes the connection works

The customer accepts the contract and submits the necessary supporting material such as the declaration in front of the notary and the power of attorney. For the finalization of the contract the acceptance of the cost estimate has to be accepted and paid for and the inspection certificate issued by the "Superintendencia de Electricidad y Combustibles (SEC)" on the internal wiring (Anexo TE-1 SEC) has to be submitted.

The payment of the estimate can be done in one of the three offices of Chilectra determined for this purpose.

For 3-phase connections the metering material is included in connection tariff. Other items included in the tariff are current transformers and other material, inspections, approvals with the municipality and the civil works (excavation permit) needed for the connection . The price of the excavation permit to open a sidewalk (2 m width * 4 m long) for a period of 6 days in the town of Santiago is about 60,000 CLP.


To sign the supply contract the following documents have to be submitted:
• The declaration in front of the notary attesting to the fact that the customer is the owner of the building. If the owner is a company the declaration has to clarify the persons that are legally responsible for the actions of the company.
• Certificate of the number of the relevant municipality (“Certificado de número Municipal”).
• Copy of the identify document of the owner or legal representative of the company
• Tax registration number of copy of the tax registration number (Rol Único Tributario - UT).
• Coordinates of the person receiving the cost estimate for the connection and future consumption bills.
• Relevant documents needed to grant the “way of right” for installation of transformers on the premises of the customer.

Once the supply contract has been signed Chilectra will then carry out the actual connection works. Material for the connection is provided by Chilectra and always available.

Agency: Chilectra 		14 calendar days CLP 4,039,153.7
* 5 The customer receives approval of the internal installation works by the "Superintendencia de Electricidad y Combustibles (SEC)"

The internal wiring of the client is his responsibility but needs to be authorized by the "Superintendencia de Electricidad y Combustibles (SEC)".
Once the internal wiring has been completed the customer has to request an inspection by the "Superintendencia de Electricidad y Combustibles (SEC)". When applying for the inspection, the electrician in charge of the internal wiring has to submit a declaration that he has executed the installation works according to standards of the SEC.

SEC inspects the premise randomly and issues a certificate (Formulario SEC – T1).

The legal time limit for the issuance of the certificate by SEC is 10 days. The progress of the process can be checked on over the phone after the 5th working day by calling SEC (600 6000 732) or by contacting one of the organization's regional offices.

Agency: Superintendencia de Electricidad y Combustible (SEC) 		11 calendar days no charge
* 6 Receive final connection and meter installation

The last step of the connection works (meter installation) can only be done after the internal wiring installation has been approved by the Superintendencia de Electricidad y Combustibles (SEC). A minimum delay of two weeks is needed for this step to inform the surrounding community of the cut in electricity in order to connect the new customer.
Agency: Chilectra 		14 calendar days no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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