Saudi Arabia

Getting Electricity in

Saudi Arabia

Listed below are the procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain an electricity connection for a newly constructed building.

The information appearing on this page 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 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Name of Utility: Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)
  • City: Riyadh

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 The client applies for electricity connection and awaits estimate of connection fees from the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)

Online applications are currently not possible in Riyadh. This option is available in other parts of the country, however, such as in Jeddah.
The documents required, along with the application, are a building permit from the municipality and the client’s ID.

After that, the utility conducts a site inspection to determine the details of the connection and prepare an estimate of the connection fees. The client does not need be present. The utility will then prepare and estimate of the connection fees.

No inspection of the entire internal wiring, however, is carried out during the process.


Agency: Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) 		11 calendar days SAR 191.5
* 2 The client obtains external inspection from the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)



Agency: Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) 		1 calendar day no charge
3 The client obtains external works from the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)

The external works consist of laying out cables from the warehouse to the closest supply on the LV network. The material is all provided by the utility.
If the building is located within grid coverage or at a distance less than 1,000 meters outside of coverage the client pays only the connection fees and does not pay for the actual works.



Agency: Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) 		53 calendar days SAR 11,400.0
4 The client obtains meter installation and final supply from the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)

The client needs to submit a separate application for meter installation and final supply. This is done upon submission of the completion certificate.

Agency: Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) 		7 calendar days no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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