Senegal

Getting Electricity in

Senegal

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 Senegal.

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: Société Nationale d'Électricité du Sénégal (SENELEC)
  • City: Dakar

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Customer hires electrical contractor to do technical study

The applicant hires an electrical contractor to conduct a technical study of the site and the external connection works.
Agency: Electrical Contractor 		7 calendar days XOF 1,610,500.0
2 Submit application and technical study at Senelec and await approval of technical study

No clearances from other agencies are required to apply for a connection. The technical study is sent to Senelec for approval. After Senelec has approved the site, they send a letter to the customer.
Agency: Senelec 		30 calendar days no charge
* 3 Inspection of the site by Senelec

To approve the technical study, Senelec inspects the site
Agency: Senelec 		1 calendar day no charge
* 4 Obtain excavation permit at the Mininistry of Transport

An excavation permit is required for the external connection works. The plans of the substation are needed to apply.
Agency: Minsitry of Transportation 		18 calendar days no charge
5 Electrical contractor conducts external connection works, Senelec supervises the works and carries out final inspection

The electrical contractor that carried out the technical study is also purchasing the necessary material and bringing the material to the utility for a control and approval. The meter board has to be bought directly at Senelec by the customer or the electrical contractor doing the external connection works. The transformer has to be bought privately and has to be brought to Senelec for a control. The customer can also do a control privately of some of the material and send to Senelec a written note (procès verbal) which will be approved by the utility (free of cost). At the beginning of the civil construction works for the transformer post, the electrical contractor is ordering already all the materials. Transformers are usually available. The utility will supervise the works and conduct 3 inspections of the external works. At the beginning of the external works, there will be the first inspection. The customer or the electrical contractor has to go to the utility after the first inspection to obtain a written note from the utility that confirms the inspection (procès verbal). The works continue at the same time. After implantation, there is a second inspection. Employees from the utility, but from a different unit come within 24 hours to do the inspection. The customer or the electrical contractor has to go to the utility to obtain the written confirmation of the inspection (procès verbal) from the utility for the second inspection. The works continue at the same time. After the external connection works are finished, the electrical contractor writes a letter to Senelec and within a week, the utility comes to do a third inspection.
Agency: Senelec/Electrical Contractor 		67 calendar days XOF 27,039,500.0
* 6 Obtain attestation for civil engineering works of the transformer from an agency

The electrical contractor shows the plans for the civil engineering work for the transformer post to a licensed agency, for example Veritas. Such an agency follows the civil engineering works for the transformer post and at the end of the works, checks them and issues an attestation of the works. The attestation needs to be showed to the utility and only then the utility proceeds with accepting the works.
Agency: Agence spécialisée (ex: Veritas) 		10 calendar days XOF 600,000.0
7 Obtain certificate from utility for third inspection, submit application for connection and pay for advanced consumption

After a week of the third inspection of the external works, the electrical contractor or the customer goes to the utility to get a written note that confirms the inspection. At the same time, the customer is going to the Senelec customer service office to apply for the connection with a copy of identity card, a copy of the rental contract, and copy of the land title and details of the connection. The copies do not need to be notarized. The customer has to go to the commercial section (a different part of the utility) to pay a few months of consumption beforehand to the utility. The exact amount depends on the requested load and the estimated monthly consumption. Once electricity is flowing, the customer would not have to pay electricity consumption for the first few months.
Agency: Senelec 		7 calendar days no charge
8 Await final connection by Senelec, electricity starts flowing

Once the advanced consumption is paid, the utility informs the equipment section and asks them to connect the customer. The connection is organized as the neighbors have to be cut off electricity in order to connect the new customer. Every Tuesday, there is a meeting to program when the cut off electricity will be done. Usually on the weekend, the actual cut off electricity of the neighbors is done. After that, electricity starts flowing.
The customer signs the supply contract with the utility one or two weeks after.
Agency: Senelec 		14 calendar days no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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