Electrical works: when a recommendation is needed and the seven days to energise

It is Chapter 9.1 of Joint Regulation No. 9473, the first of the infrastructure and environment volume. Its provisions apply to electrical works carried out independently or as part of building something else, and to projects affected by the Electric Power Authority’s easements. For those projects, the AEE’s technical specifications in force are adopted, including every element, requirement and detail in the current versions of the codes and regulations the AEE promulgates and OGPe adopts, and any standard, circular or interpretation under them previously approved by OGPe. This guide is about electricity; potable water and sanitary sewer are a different chapter and have their own guide.

Seven cases require an AEE recommendation before OGPe or the hierarchy I-III autonomous municipality grants the permit: electrical infrastructure to be maintained and operated by the AEE; works with a load under fifty kVA where there is no adequate electrical infrastructure to provide the service; the installation of two-hundred-amp meter bases or multiple bases of three or more meters; services with underground taps; projects with a load of fifty kVA or more; projects affected by AEE easements or proposing their use or modification; and energy generation systems to be interconnected with the AEE. In addition, the regulation opens a route: connections up to fifty kVA for generators or substations may also be carried out by a duly licensed Perito Electricista, to guarantee the installation’s safety.

• Obtaining the AEE’s recommendation before the permit is granted, in the seven cases the chapter lists.Verified against the official source
• Complying with the AEE’s technical specifications in force, adopted by OGPe; and, where applicable standards, regulations and codes conflict, with the most demanding of them.Verified against the official source
• That the electrical construction plans be sealed and signed by the responsible professional, with their signature and seal on each sheet.Verified against the official source
• If the plan amendment includes changes in the proposed load or others affecting the connection conditions: filing a new Recommendation Request before filing the amendment.Verified against the official source
• To request energising: holding the Permiso Único and the works inspector’s certification that the works comply with the plans, regulations and applicable laws and with any other certification or requirement previously set by the AEE.Verified against the official source
• Where the works include electrical infrastructure to be maintained or operated by the AEE: filing the documents for its transfer, conveyance and warranty and constituting the applicable rights of way.Verified against the official source

• For the recommendation request: an explanatory memorial with a general description of the project; site plans including the location; detail on the project’s scope and the estimated load in kilovolt-amperes (kVA); and, if staged, a work programme with each stage’s start and end dates and the estimated electrical load to be connected at the end of each.
• For the construction permit: a digital file of the plans to scale, north-oriented and in DXF format, with a polygon of the territorial extent georeferenced to NAD 83, stating the unit of measure and the NAD 83 revision used.
• Electrical construction plans sealed and signed by the responsible professional, with complementary documents including the date of preparation, the professional’s name, postal address and telephone numbers, signature and seal on each sheet, the total number of sheets and a legend identifying every symbol used.
• Computations of load, short-circuit currents, voltage drop, pulling tension for underground conductors and structural design with sag, span and clearance tensions; and, where a substation is required, electrical load calculations and short-circuit current computations.
• If relocating an existing transmission or sub-transmission line is proposed: one plan for the relocation design and another for the proposed infrastructure, with the proposed line’s profiles; and, where the lines are maintained or operated by the AEE, a survey plan with the new easements to be constituted and the existing ones to be cancelled.
• For projects under the AEE’s rural housing programme: evidence that the Permiso Único was granted for the property where service is sought.

1. 1

   Step 1: The seven cases requiring an AEE recommendation

   Before OGPe or the hierarchy I-III autonomous municipality grants the permit, an AEE recommendation is needed in seven situations. Electrical infrastructure to be maintained and operated by the AEE. Works with a load under fifty kVA where there is no adequate electrical infrastructure to provide the service. The installation of two-hundred-amp meter bases or multiple bases of three or more meters. Services with underground taps. Projects with a load of fifty kVA or more. Projects affected by AEE easements or proposing their use or modification. And energy generation systems to be interconnected with the AEE. Note that the fifty kVA threshold appears twice and in opposite senses: below it, when adequate infrastructure is missing; above it, always.

2. 2

   Step 2: The most demanding standard prevails

   The regulation adopts for electrical construction projects the AEE’s technical specifications in force, including every element, requirement and detail in the current versions of the codes and regulations the AEE promulgates and OGPe adopts, and any standard, circular or interpretation under them previously approved by OGPe. And it adds a short, useful tie-breaker: where the applicable standards, regulations and codes conflict, the most demanding of them prevails.

3. 3

   Step 3: The Perito Electricista route

   There is an alternative worth knowing for small projects: connections up to fifty kVA for generators or substations may also be carried out by a duly licensed Perito Electricista, to guarantee the installation’s safety. We reproduce that sentence as printed — the regulation writes "cincuenta (50 kVA) kilovatios", mixing two units — because resolving the text’s inconsistency is not ours to do.

4. 4

   Step 4: The recommendation request: four documents

   Every request for recommendations on electrical works must include four things: an explanatory memorial with a general description of the project; site plans — site plan or location plan — including the project’s location; detail on the project’s scope and the estimated load in kilovolt-amperes; and, if the project is to be developed in stages, a work programme with each stage’s start and end dates and the estimated electrical load to be connected at the end of each. That last figure — load per stage — is the one people forget.

5. 5

   Step 5: The construction permit is the professional’s job

   The construction-permit list is written for the responsible engineer, not the owner, and we summarise it without transcribing it whole. It asks for the digital plan file in DXF with a polygon georeferenced to NAD 83; electrical plans sealed and signed, with signature and seal on each sheet — and, where more than one professional takes part, all their original compliance certifications, signatures and seals — the total number of sheets and a legend of symbols; and computations of load, short-circuit currents, voltage drop, pulling tension for underground conductors and structural design with sag, span and clearance tensions, plus load and short-circuit calculations where a substation must be provided. The plans must illustrate twelve classes of existing conditions in the area, from true north to the project number assigned by OGPe or the municipality, taking in overhead or underground transmission, sub-transmission and distribution lines, line profiles where ground levels change, and electrical and access easements. Projects with underground installations or complex designs carry a single-line diagram with its legend, and those installing substations must show transformers, structures, protective equipment, fences and gates, details of bases, walls, floors and fences, conduit entries and exits, elevation views and clearances, oil container or dike details and the metering system.

6. 6

   Step 6: If an existing line must be moved

   The plans must clearly specify any proposed relocation of existing lines. If the project proposes relocating an existing transmission or sub-transmission line, one plan is required for the relocation design and another for the proposed electrical infrastructure, and the relocation plans must illustrate the proposed line’s profiles. And where the lines to be relocated are maintained or operated by the AEE, a survey plan must also be filed showing the new easements to be constituted and the existing ones to be cancelled, if any, under the Electric Power Authority’s easements regulation in force. One textual detail we disclose: this requirement is printed twice in the same section, in nearly identical wording; we report it as a single requirement and record the duplication.

7. 7

   Step 7: Amendments: if the load changes, start again

   Previously certified electrical construction plans may be amended before or after works begin, provided the professional files the amendment request through the SUI, and the plans must meet the same requirements and follow the same procedure as the original request. But one case forces you back a step: if the amendments include changes in the proposed load or other changes affecting the connection conditions, a new Recommendation Request must be filed before filing the amendment. And in every case, the proposed alteration or change may not be carried out until OGPe approves the requested amendment.

8. 8

   Step 8: The seven days to energise

   This is the last stretch and the one with the most useful figure. The AEE reserves the right to inspect, with its own authorised personnel, the construction or reconstruction of the electrical works. Once a Permiso Único is issued for the project, after the works inspector’s certification that they comply with the plans, regulations and applicable laws, and any other certification or requirement previously set by the AEE in its codes and regulations, the owner or authorised representative may ask the AEE to energise the project. And the AEE will energise the project within a maximum of seven days after the request is submitted to the agency, unless it finds the built work has deficiencies or departs from the certified plans, regulations or applicable laws, and those deficiencies and irregularities put life, safety or property at risk. Where the AEE finds the works depart from what was certified, it must start the corresponding administrative process and refer the case immediately to the corresponding entity.

9. 9

   Step 9: If the AEE will operate the infrastructure

   Where the construction works include electrical infrastructure to be maintained or operated by the AEE, the documents for its transfer, conveyance and warranty to the Authority must be filed and the applicable rights of way constituted, under the regulations in force. And the plans must include the notes the AEE requires, plus other notes explaining the drawings’ details, applying to the design to improve safety and ease construction, establishing the project owner’s contribution to the AEE through OGPe, detailing the work the AEE will do for construction and connection, establishing the AEE’s easement requirements and describing the improvement works it asks for. That "owner’s contribution" is referred to the AEE’s notes without a figure, and that is why we publish none.

10. 10

    Step 10: Rural housing: three conditions

    The chapter closes with rules for projects under the AEE’s rural housing programme seeking electricity service. First: no service will be offered to projects whose lotificación lacks the corresponding authorisation. Second: no service will be offered to dwellings or properties where specific lots are assigned in a farm held in common by several owners — común proindiviso — without the corresponding permit, and the AEE checks this for every project under consideration. Third: the service applicant must be required to evidence that the Permiso Único was granted for the property where service is sought. If your house sits on an undivided-common farm without a permit, this is the rule that explains why the power does not arrive.

Before OGPe or the hierarchy I-III autonomous municipality, as applicable, and through the SUI for plan amendments. The prior recommendation is issued by the AEE in the seven cases the chapter lists. The energising request is made to the AEE once the Permiso Único is issued and the works certified by its inspector. Permits and authorisations in historic sites and zones, plazas de recreo and surrounding blocks — the towns’ founding centres — also require the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture’s recommendation. This chapter names the AEE throughout and so do we; the distribution system operator’s customer-facing procedures are covered in our LUMA guides.

• Filing the permit without the AEE’s prior recommendation in one of the seven cases requiring it.
• Believing only large projects need it: works under fifty kVA without adequate infrastructure require it too.
• Forgetting the estimated load in kVA, or the load per stage where the project is phased.
• Amending the proposed load without first filing a new Recommendation Request.
• Carrying out the amendment’s change before OGPe approves it.
• Relocating a transmission line without the two plans and, where the AEE operates it, without the easement survey plan.
• Requesting energising without the Permiso Único or the works inspector’s certification.
• Assuming service arrives on an undivided-common farm without the corresponding permit.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• Permit Management Office

  ogpe

  ogpe.pr.gov