General Electricity Law No 64 of 2003

This law is a general regulatory framework for the generation, distribution and sale of electricity in the Kingdom, and has been updated over the years. The 2003 update includes language that is directly related to climate change despite the fact that the law does not name climate change as an objective. The law states that energy efficiency shall be a national priority, a precursor to the law concerning renewable energy summarised above. In addition, the General Electricity Law grants authority to the Electricity Sector Regulatory Commission to provide incentives (not specified in the law) to encourage improved technological efficiency; and to participate in the regulation of efficiency standards for electric devices officially issued by the Standards and Meteorology Corporation.


Previous additions to the law passed in 2002 allowed private energy companies to access to the electricity grids as well as set guidelines for renewable energy projects. Large-scale projects (above 5MW) would be contracted through competitive tendering (no longer necessary due to the provision in the renewable energy law), small-scale (below 5MW) through direct negotiations and very small scale (below 1MW) for auto-generation and only to be bought during peak demand.