Lesotho

Getting Electricity in

Lesotho

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 Lesotho.

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: Lesotho Electricity Company (Pty) Ltd
  • City: Maseru

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Apply for the internal inspection at Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) and await and receive inspection and obtain certificate

A site inspection of the internal wiring is done before the application. The electrician of the customer applies for testing of the internal wiring in person at LEC after the wiring has been completed. After requesting the internal inspection, the customer/electrician have to wait for the inspection. LEC then goes with the electrician to the wired house to do the test whether the electrician has done the wiring according to LEC’s standards. If the wiring passes the test, LEC gives the electrician a certificate. The electrician gives the certificate to the customer.
Agency: Lesotho Electricity Company Ltd (LEC) 		11 calendar days no charge
2 Submit application at Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC), await and accept estimate

After depositing the application, the customer has to wait for the external inspection and after the external inspection for the estimate. Once the customer has accepted the quotation, he/she signs the contract and pays the quotation. The customer pays the quotation at the front desk of the utility and he obtains a final quote. If the customer decides to pay the quoted amount, he gets an invoice by the clerk and the customer pays the final quote at the cash office.
Agency: Lesotho Electricity Company Ltd (LEC) 		21 calendar days no charge
3 The utility's subcontractor carries out external connection works and meter installation

Once the client has paid the quotation, the utility has to appoint a contractor from its existing list of registered contractors. Once the contractor has been awarded the contract, the contractors buy the relevant material. Material used to be provided by the utility, but lately contractors buy the material. The external connection works themselves take about one month. The meter is also installed by the electrical contractor. The meter is installed at the same time as when the connection is done.
Agency: Lesotho Electricity Company Ltd (LEC) 		90 calendar days LSL 210,000.0
4 Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) inspects the works and commissions the meter

Upon completion of the construction works (external works), the customer shall open an account at the utility. When the electrical contractor has finished the external connection works as per LEC standards they immediately report to LEC that the work is done. LEC would then go to the warehouse to inspect the works and to commission the meter (this is a sort of registration of the meter) and hand out a form/paper to the customer. LEC goes within 24hrs after the electrical contractor has reported that he is done with the house. The commissioning takes less than an hour.
Agency: Lesotho Electricity Company Ltd (LEC) 		1 calendar day no charge
5 The customer opens an account at Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC), pays security deposit and electricity starts flowing

Afterwards, the customer can go to LEC immediately to open an account. The warehouse would fall into the industrial category low voltage. For this category, LEC introduced a refundable security deposit of 26,000 Maloti flat fee. The customer can go to the LEC customer service office with the form/paper to open an account, pay the security deposit and to activate the meter in the LEC system and he/she can purchase electricity units at any service point, thereafter. The meter usually comes with 5 units from the manufacturers, which the customer will be using immediately after the private contractor has completed the external connection.
Agency: Lesotho Electricity Company Ltd (LEC) 		2 calendar days LSL 10,167.3
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