Lebanon

Getting Electricity in

Lebanon

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 Lebanon.

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: Electricité du Liban (EDL)
  • City: Beirut

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 The client obtains electricity bill from neighbor (and address of closest building)

The customer needs to obtain an electricity bill from their neighbor or the identification number of the neighbor’s meter box (showing the address of the closest building. This is needed when applying for electricity connection because it allows the electricity company, Electricité du Liban, locate the construction.
Agency: Neighbor 		1 calendar day no charge
2 The client submits application and awaits estimate of connection fees from Electricité du Liban (EDL)

The customer submits an application for electricity connection at Electricité du Liban’s offices.
In addition to the application form, the client needs to submit:
• copy of the title deed
• copy of the ID card
• the original building permit, and
• electricity bill from the closest building (or meter box number) and its address
Agency: Electricité du Liban (EDL), Beirut 		18 calendar days LBP 11,000.0
* 3 The client receives external inspection from Electricité du Liban (EDL)

The application is forwarded to the relevant department at the utility for review. A site inspection is usually carried out to determine the details of the connection.

The inspector then prepares a report with the specifics of the connection and awaits clearance from the relevant authority at the utility.

Once clearance is obtained and the inspector has prepared an estimate of the connection fees, the client will need to make the necessary payment at Electricité du Liban’s offices. The client is then given the approved file back along with a “C23” card (with the number of connections and the temporary meter, if needed).
Agency: Electricité du Liban (EDL), Beirut 		1 calendar day LBP 426,064.3
4 The client awaits and obtains external works and meter installation from Electricité du Liban (EDL)’s contractor

External works start after the client has paid the connection fees. For a connection of 3x200A, if the warehouse is less than 200 meters away from the closest distribution substation, the works will consist of laying out an underground cable from the building to that substation.

Otherwise, a substation would be needed.

Any permits needed for the works are obtained by the utility directly.

The utility picks a contractor to do the external works, and possibly install the meter and turn the electricity on too. The utility however, always supervises the works.
The contractor is in charge of applying for any required excavation permit with the municipality.

No inspection of the entire internal wiring is done during the process.

Agency: Electricité du Liban (EDL), Beirut 		#VALUE! LBP 13,707,000.0
5 The client obtains final connection from Electricité du Liban (EDL) or its contractor

Usually it is the utility that turns on electricity, but it all depends on the agreement between the contractor and the utility. The contractor might have the right to also turn on the electricity.

At times when the utility is overloaded, it normally delegates the works entirely to its contractor that does the works, installs the meter, and turns on the electricity. In this case, the utility only checks the final connection at the end to make sure the installation has been done properly.

Otherwise, if the agreement with the contractor does not give them this right, meter installation is done by the utility.

Agency: Electricité du Liban (EDL), Beirut or its contractor 		7 calendar days no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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