Electrical installation activities carried out in all premises, whether residential or commercial, must be done by practitioners with valid permits issued by the Rwanda Utility and Regulatory Authority (RURA) effective March 1, the regulatory has announced.

The move seeks to enforce the Electrical Installations Regulations, which aim at purging unqualified practitioners and help prevent or at least significantly reduce fire incidents in the country.

Ernest Nsabimana, the Director General, RURA, said in a statement that those wishing to get electricity from the Rwanda Electricity Group (REG/EUCL) will be required to produce evidence that they have hired a competent individual or company before they are attended to.

Currently, the deadline only applies to the owners of buildings located in the City of Kigali. The regulations will be extended to other parts of the country at a later stage.

"Owners of the existing or new building wishing to get electricity will be required to produce a certificate of compliance or a commitment letter certifying that installation has been or will be duly carried out by a certified electrical installation practitioner with a valid permit issued by RURA,” he said.

Protecting citizens

In November 2020, RURA took the initial steps to enforce requirements electricians must meet before they can be allowed to conduct electrical installations in buildings.

The rules were rolled out a few years back to help protect people, properties and the environment from hazards that can arise from faulty electrical installations.

According to the General Manager of Energy, Water, and Sanitation at RURA, Alexis Mutwale, by November last year, there were only about 100 electrical engineers countrywide who had been certified.

"We need more licensed electrical engineers but for now, the enforcement will be done gradually, starting with Kigali to avoid sudden shortages,” he said.

Officials hope that the ‘clean-up’ exercise will help tackle fire incidents that continue to be seen around the country, particularly in the City of Kigali, costing billions in destroyed property.

Fires have particularly become commonplace in commercial centres of the capital, most especially in Gisozi, including in recent weeks.

"There are lingering concerns in light of the fire incidents both in public buildings and homes,” Mutwale said, suggesting that in most cases poor electrical installations were to blame for these fires.

"People tend to blame REG (Rwanda Energy Group) but as a matter of fact these incidents can be traced to the work of incompetent and unqualified electrical engineers,” he added.

In 2019, back-to-back fires destroyed a lot of merchandise and materials that were valued at over Rwf2 billion and this included merchandise from hardware stores valued at almost Rwf1.5bn.

Requirements

The regulator first published a call for applications for permits on November 17.

To get a permit, an electrician is required to sit an exam to test their knowledge in the field after presenting requisite academic certificates.

Exams are prepared in collaboration with the Institution of Engineers Rwanda and applicants require a degree or secondary school certificate in electrical engineering to qualify for the exam.

Classification of licenses

Upon passing the exam, the candidate will be issued a license based in any of the four categories A, B, C, D, and Z.

Class A comprises of those certified to do electrical installation of residential premises not exceeding five bedrooms and reparations on equipment of up to 230 volts.

Class B comprises those who can do electrical installation in multi- storied buildings, other big bungalows and mansions of complex design and commercial buildings and installation of light plants up to a level of 400 volts and any work under Class A.

Class C is specifically for those certified to install low voltage and medium voltage connections up to 30kV and any work under Class B.

Class D is for those who can do electrical installation systems designs and Installation in specialized fields like switchgear, centralized heating, refrigeration, and generator sets and solar systems.

The last class is Z and it is a category for those doing installation of any plants up to and including high voltage (70kV and above).