In force
Saudi Electricity Law
نظام الكهرباء
Regulates the electricity sector in Saudi Arabia. It concerns electricity service providers, licensed operators and consumers.
- Articles
- 23
- In force
- 23
- Amended
- 0
- Issued
- 16/5/1442 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم (م/44) وتاريخ 1442/5/16هـ · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم (262) وتاريخ 1442/5/14هـ
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Electricity Law by topic
Definitions and Aims of the Electricity Law4 articlesFunctions of the Water and Electricity Regulatory Authority2 articlesElectricity Activity License1 articleLicensee Obligations and Consumer Rights3 articlesBackup Sources of Electric Power4 articlesElectricity Tariff and Prices1 articleCompetition and Structuring the Electricity Sector4 articlesElectricity Violations and Penalties5 articles
Articles of the Saudi Electricity Law
الفصل الأول: التعريفاتArticles 1–1
الفصل الثاني: أحكام عامةArticles 2–4
- Article 2The article sets out ten objectives of the Electricity Law, chiefly protecting consumer rights and service reliability, encouraging legitimate competition, protecting licensees, and involving the private sector.
- Article 3The article sets out the Ministry of Energy's powers in the electricity sector, from preparing policies and plans, including the long-term plan, to international representation and temporary exceptional powers in crises.
- Article 4The article sets out the tasks of the Water and Electricity Regulatory Authority, including issuing regulations, performance standards and licensing rules, securing additional generation, deciding complaints, and approving licensees' plans.
الفصل الثالث: الإطار التنظيمي للرخصةArticles 5–7
- Article 5The article bans any electricity activity without a license or exemption, requires the Authority to decide within 30 working days, bars assigning a license without permission, and requires licensees to compensate those harmed.
- Article 6The article bars a licensee from cutting off electricity to a consumer without notice and outside the controls in the regulations, and requires it to comply with the law, the regulations, its license conditions and the Authority's decisions.
- Article 7The article gives a licensee the right to obtain land under the expropriation law and to reach connection points, and requires bodies responsible for layouts to reserve sites for transmission and distribution stations.
الفصل الرابع: المصادر الاحتياطية للطاقة الكهربائيةArticles 8–11
- Article 8The article requires specified facilities, such as health facilities, blood banks, sewage stations, telecommunications, airports and certain factories and cold stores, to secure a backup electricity source at their own expense.
- Article 9The article defines the emergency cases in Article 8 as any incident beyond the reasonable control of the transmission or distribution licensee that causes an outage, and leaves the maximum outage duration to the regulations.
- Article 10The article requires the facilities named in Article 8 to provide fuel for the backup source and decide where to store it, to maintain and run it periodically, and to meet the environmental requirements for it.
- Article 11The article requires the distribution licensee to inspect backup sources periodically under a program the Authority approves, and to keep a record of their locations and the bodies responsible, as the regulations specify.
الفصل الخامس: التعريفة والسعرArticles 12–12
الفصل السادس: المنافسةArticles 13–13
الفصل السابع: تطوير هيكلة الأنشطة الكهربائيةArticles 14–16
- Article 14The article tasks the Ministry with developing and reviewing the electricity sector restructuring plan, and requires the Ministry and the Authority to follow its implementation to achieve competition, more private participation and a move to an electricity market.
- Article 15The article requires the Authority, when moving to an electricity market, to protect the rights of non-dominant investors who develop projects, protect consumers from large price fluctuations, and ensure reliable supplies.
- Article 16The article lets any licensee, when needed, use or connect to another licensee's transmission or distribution system for a charge and without discrimination, and requires the network owner to issue the network code when the Authority asks.
الفصل الثامن: المخالفات والعقوباتArticles 17–21
- Article 17The article lists violations of the Electricity Law, including operating without a license, tampering with an electricity meter, irregular connection, giving misleading information, and withholding necessary information.
- Article 18The article sets the penalties for violating the Electricity Law: suspension of the activity for up to a year, license revocation, and a fine of up to ten million riyals, with committee powers on daily fines, doubling, publication and refunds.
- Article 19The article covers amicable settlement of electricity disputes through the Authority, the violations committee and its formation, objecting to its decisions before the Administrative Court within 60 days, and the powers of inspectors.
- Article 20The article allows the Authority, in urgent cases and by decision of the Governor or his delegate, to order a violator to stop and remedy, suspend its activity or manage it temporarily, then refer the violation to the committee.
- Article 21The article makes anyone who tampers with an electricity meter or its accessories liable for all damage to the licensee's facility or third parties, including repair costs and compensation for lost benefit.
الفصل التاسع: أحكام ختاميةArticles 22–23
- Article 22The article divides issuing the Electricity Law's Implementing Regulations between the Minister, for the Ministry's tasks, and the Council, for the Authority's tasks, within 180 days of publication, effective from the date the law takes effect.
- Article 23The article provides that the Electricity Law takes effect 180 days after publication and replaces the Electricity Law issued by Royal Decree No. M/56 dated 20/10/1426 AH and its amendments, repealing whatever conflicts with it.