One year jail term or Sh1m fine for electricians without work licence

Any person who wishes to carry out electrical installation work will now be required to have a valid practising licence, the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (Epra) has said.

In a statement, the State agency warned that anyone found carrying out sub-standard works or works that are not within the scope of their licence would be fined not less than Sh1 million, imprisoned for a year, or both.

Epra noted that the new rules, effective from March 28, 2020, would help streamline the sector, weed out quack electricians and boost accountability in the installation of electrical systems.

“Any person planning, operating, building or maintaining a transmission or distribution system will have to ensure that such assignments are only delegated to electrical contractors and electrical workers authorised by Epra,” said the agency in a notice.

This directive is according to section 148 (1) of the Energy Act, 2019.

Occupiers of premises will also be tasked with ensuring that repairs and installations are done by licensed contractors.

“Section 151 (2) of the Act stipulates that owners or occupiers of any premises shall ensure that electrical installations are carried out by authorised electricians and technicians,” said Epra.

“They should ensure that the installations are periodically inspected and any defects remedied.”

The authority has, however, announced the suspension of all licensing activities within the authority except for online processing.

This is in reaction to the Covid-19 menace and subsequent presidential directives to suspend such activities.