Kenya has been ranked the second top energy reformer in Africa, coming after Senegal, which took first place in the 2024 Electricity Regulatory Index (ERI) released by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The annual index measures how well African countries regulate their electricity sectors. It focuses on three key areas, including governance, substance of regulations, and real-world results such as electricity access and utility performance.
In 2024, Kenya scored 0.892 out of a possible 1, making it one of the most improved countries since 2022, when it scored 0.695, and among the highest ever recorded since the index began in 2018.
“Kenya is showing the rest of Africa what forward-looking regulation can achieve. This is critical to reaching our goal of connecting 300 million people to electricity by 2030,” said Dr. Kevin Kariuki, AfDB Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth.
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Why Kenya is Ranked at the Top
The report praises Kenya’s Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) for leading widespread reforms under the Energy Act 2019, which merged oversight of electricity, petroleum, and gas into one stronger regulatory body.
Some of the highlighted reforms include transparent, cost-reflective tariffs, as EPRA now reviews electricity rates every three years and adjusts for changes in fuel and currency costs.
Additionally, EPRA was lauded for net metering and feed-in tariffs, which allow homes and businesses to sell extra solar power back to the grid.
Renewable energy auctions for large-scale wind, solar, and geothermal projects, and energy efficiency rules including mandatory labeling of appliances and building code enforcement were also highlighted.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) also noted that Kenya is among the first African countries to begin regulating green hydrogen and EV infrastructure.
EPRA also digitized licensing for energy projects, making it easier and faster to start new developments, and launched Time-of-Use tariffs to shift industrial demand to off-peak hours, helping balance the grid.
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How the Rest of Africa Performed
Across the continent, 41 of 43 countries scored above 0.5 in the 2024 ERI, up from 24 in 2022.
Countries at the bottom of the ranking, such as Niger, Chad, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, have electrification rates below 20% but are showing improvement.
For example, Niger’s score tripled from 0.10 to 0.33 due to new grid expansion policies and rural electrification frameworks.
The Regulatory Outcomes Index, which measures results like access and service delivery, saw the biggest improvement continent-wide from 0.40 in 2022 to 0.62 in 2024.
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