South Africa

Getting Electricity in

South Africa

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 South Africa.

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: ESKOM
  • City: Johannesburg

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 Submit an application for electricity connection to Eskom and await an estimate of connection fees

Applications may be done online through Customer Service Online system or by fax. Certified copies of an ID as well as guarantee payment maybe submitted to the servicing Walk-In-Centre on signing of the original contract by the customer. Budget quotes are issued, based on actual costs, whereby the applicant can respond.

When the customer accepts the budget quote (estimate), he submits his acceptance letter (usually attached to the quote) together with the necessary payment or proof thereof to the Customer Executive dealing with his application.



Agency: ESKOM 		60 calendar days no charge
* 2 Receive external inspection by Eskom

An external site inspection is carried out by Eskom to confirm the site layout so as to compare it with the drawing for costing purposes.
Agency: ESKOM 		1 calendar day no charge
3 Await completion of the external connection works by Eskom

Eskom is in charge of the works up to the Meter Kiosk. Beyond falls under internal retic of the customer.

The utility obtains an excavation permit at the Route Agency.
Meter installation will be done, irrelevant if customers' internal retic is done or not. However the final connection will only be done after Eskom have received the Compliance Certificate.

Only the meter and meter kiosk are provided by Eskom free of charge. The rest are based on actual costs. Eskom provides the material. If for any reason the customer has to purchase the material not from Eskom, specifications are provided and have to be adhered to.

In our case the following technical specifications of connection will most likely apply:

• Supply size: 150kVA is the standard size closest to 140kVA
• Feeder Voltage: 11kV and Customer takes supply at 400Volts
• Network Type: Underground

The following scope of works carried out by Eskom will most likely apply:

• Mount a new 150kVA 11kV transformer on pole
• Label the new transformer
• Install MV fused links
• Install a new LPU 150kVA meter-kiosk at the customer's boundary
• Terminate a 150mm sq 4C Cu cable onto the LV side of the transformer to the meter-kiosk.
• Lay 15m of 150mm sq 4C Cu cable from the transformer and terminate it to the new meter-kiosk.
(It will be customer’s responsibility to: lay own cable from his distribution kiosk to Eskom's meter-kiosk and to provide a termination kit.)

In addition to the cost of works and material the customer has to pay the security deposit which is refundable on termination of the supply by customer less any amounts owing to Eskom if any. While the supply is active, Eskom has the right to revise existing deposits as per specific supply agreement between individual customer and Eskom. Eskom pays interest rate on deposits equal to the rate of the National bank. However, in most cases the security deposit against consumption is usually by means of a Bank Guarantee ie not hard cash.

Testing of the connection: Once the connection part has been completed an arrangement for outage (process which includes quality check and testing) has to be made. It entails communication with the affected customers if any where supply point is shared e.g. minisub connection, arrangement for required staff to be dispatched/work order. The cost of the inspection is included in the costs of the external connection works.

Agency: ESKOM 		165 calendar days ZAR 862,679.0
* 4 Submit a Certificate of Internal Wiring Compliance to Eskom

An electrician issues a Compliance Certificate regarding the internal wiring to Eskom. The internal wiring (reticulation) is not Eskom's responsibility. An electrician should do the inspection, issue Compliance Certificate and submit it to Eskom.
Eskom will require a Certificate of Compliance signed by a registered Electrical Contractor. The applicant's electrician has to be licensed/accredited by the Electrician Contractors Association of South Africa (ECASA). All electricians doing work with Eskom have to be accredited by ECASA.


Agency: ESKOM 		1 calendar day no charge
5 Sign a supply contract with Eskom and obtain a final connection

The supply contract can be signed just before the external connection works are ready so the power is turned on the next day after the external connection works are over.
Eskom will only provide final connection after Compliance Certificate was received.


Agency: ESKOM 		1 calendar day no charge
* Takes place simultaneously with another procedure.
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