Accreditation and Certification for Electrical Power Ancillary Services

The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources (“Minister”) has issued Regulation No. 5 of 2014 on Procedures for Accreditation and Certification of Electricity Businesses  (“2014 Regulation”).

The 2014 Regulation sets out accreditation procedures for professionals and firms in the electricity industry, more specifically, those that fall under the category of ancillary service providers (“Ancillary Services”) as one of the following institutions:

It should be noted Ancillary Services are comprised of professionals or firms in the electricity industry that provide consultation, construction, inspection, operational and maintenance services for electrical installations.

Moreover, the 2014 Regulation provides Certification Institutions (see above) with their respective certification procedures for issuing Sufficiently Functioning Certificates, Competency Certificates and Ancillary Service Certificates.

Prior to the 2014 Regulation, these matters were regulated under 3 different regulatory instruments:

The 2014 Regulation is of relevance to existing Certification Institutions, and businesses that wish to become a Certification Institution. It is also relevant to Ancillary Service providers that intend to secure a Sufficiently Functioning Certificate, Competency Certificate or Ancillary Service Certificate.

Accreditation

Business entities wishing to be registered as one of the following Certification Institutions must submit an accreditation application to the Minister via the Director General of Electricity (“Director General”) (Art. 5 (1), 2014 Regulation):

Applications for all three certification institutions must include the support documents listed under Article 5 (2). Additionally, applicants must also enclose the technical documents which differ for one certification institution to another as set out under Article 5 paragraphs (3) to (5).

Upon receiving an application, the Director General will review it to determine whether the application will be forwarded to the Minister. Within 30 days of receiving an application, the Minister must decide whether to accept or reject it (Arts. 6 (1) and (4), and 7 (1), 2014 Regulation).

Accepted applications will receive an Accreditation Certificate as evidence that the Minister has determined the applicant as a Certification Institution. An Accreditation Certificate is valid for 5 years and can be renewed (Art. 7 (4), 2014 Regulation).

Previously, accreditations were carried out by the Electricity Competency Accreditation Commission, based on the 2002 Decree.

Electricity Installation Certification

Ancillary businesses involved in high and medium voltage electricity installation’ projects, must secure a Sufficiently Functioning Certificate from a Technical Inspection Institution. The application for the certificate requires submitting the documents prescribed under Article 12 (1) (Arts. 11 (1) and (2), and 12 (1), 2014 Regulation).

Upon receiving an application, the Technical Inspection Institution will examine the applicant’s electricity installation. The Institution must accept or reject an application within 4 days of conducting an examination (Art. 13 (1) and (2), 2014 Regulation).

If the electricity installations are deemed to be fully functional based on the inspection, the Technical Inspection Institution will issue a Sufficiently Functioning Certificate to the applicant (Art. 13 (2), 2014 Regulation).

A Sufficiently Functioning Certificate for power plant installation is valid for 5 years and a Sufficiently Functioning Certificate for other types of electricity installations are valid for 10 years. These certificates can be extended (Art. 14 (1) and (2), 2014 Regulation).

The procedure for certifying low voltage electricity installations is similar. Low voltage electricity installation certification first requires the submission of different support documents as listed under Article 20 (2) to a Low Voltage Technical Inspection Institution. The application will then be forwarded to the Minister via the Director General (Arts. 19, and 20, 2014 Regulation).

The validity period of a Sufficiently Functional Certificate for low voltage electricity installation is 5 years, and can also be extended (Art. 21 (3), 2014 Regulation).

Electricity Technician Competency Certification

Electricity technicians are required to secure a Competency Certificate by submitting an application to a Competency Certification Institution along with the required support documents as provided under Article 25 (2) (Art. 25, 2014 Regulation).

Upon receiving an application, the Competency Certification Institution will have 7 days to examine the application to decide whether the application fulfills the requirement to receive a Competency Certificate  (Arts. 27, and 28 (1), 2014 Regulation).

A Competency Certification is valid for 3 years and can be extended (Art. 28 (2), 2014 Regulation).

Ancillary Service Certification

An Ancillary Service Certificate is mandatory for Ancillary Services providing consultation, construction, inspection, operational and maintenance services for electricity installations (Art. 34 (1), 2014 Regulation).

In order to secure an Ancillary Service Certificate, concerned parties must submit an application to an Ancillary Service Certification Institution, attaching the documents listed under Articles 34 (4) and (5). The Ancillary Service Certification Institution will have 20 days to issue or refuse to issue an Ancillary Service Certificate (Art. 35 (2), 2014 Regulation).

An Ancillary Service Certificate is valid for 5 years, and can be extended (Art. 35 (5), 2014 Regulation).

Enforcement

The 2014 Regulation repeals and replaces the 2002 Decree in its entirety and also revokes several articles under the 2001 Decree and the 2005 Regulation as follows:

The 2014 Regulation has been in force since 4 February 2014. _AR