Regional electricity regulators body gets 20bn boost

The dream to interconnect East Africa’s 13 electricity regulators received a major boost last week after the African Development Bank (AfDB) granted $5.4 million or Shs 20.3 billion to run the Independent Regulatory Board (IRB) secretariat in Kampala.

Officials from the 13-nation IRB, which is an organ of the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP), approved the plan to operationalize the regional body’s newly-acquired secretariat and its activities using the AfDB grant.

Speaking after their annual meeting on December 13, Uganda’s Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) chief executive officer Eng. Ziria Tibalwa, who is the current chairperson of IRB, said $800,000 of the money will be used to equip the secretariat.

“We need to buy vehicles, servers and other ITCs for the secretariat to operate effectively,” Tibalwa stated.

The IRB secretariat staff, who have been based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will be transferred to the Kampala offices based on former ERA House, Shimoni road. According to Tibalwa, the other part of the grant will be paid to a consultant, who will prepare market rules and market trading platforms.

Hosts Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Sudan, South Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia will benefit through their respective national regulators’ exchange of ideas, power surplus trade and tariff leverage.

Tïbalwa explained: “All members have agreed to operate electricity supply network interconnection and share the generation complements so that we are able to supply from where there’s surplus generation to where there’s a deficit in power generation.”

Ephrem Tesfaye Belaynh, a senior power economist who will coordinate the secretariat’s activities, noted that relocating the offices to Kampala will also create jobs for some Ugandans.

The Eastern Africa Power Pool was established to create a regional market and help neighbouring countries sell or buy electricity from each other, making power reliable and affordable to consumers.

Through the initiative, member countries are expected to build robust electricity regulatory frameworks and harmonize relations for the region to exchange and share ideas in the power sector.