The African Development Bank (AfDB) this week launched its Electricity Regulatory Index (ERI) at the Africa Energy Forum 2018, in Mauritius. 

The ERI measures the level of development of an African country’s electricity regulatory sector.

Over the last decade, more than 30 African countries have established electricity sector regulators. Private sector participation and improvements in overall sector performance, however, are only likely to happen once electricity sector regulation is enhanced to facilitate additional necessary reforms.

Among the efforts to identify electricity sector regulation challenges, the AfDB has launched the ERI to provide a comparative, country-by-country assessment of the sector’s level of regulatory development.

In compiling the ERI, the AfDB partnered with the African Forum for Utility Regulators and the Association of Power Utilities of Africa, and consulted more than 25 African national regulators and power utilities to collect information on the regulatory framework and quality of their respective electricity sectors.

The ERI is intended to serve as a diagnostic tool, highlighting key areas in regulatory design and practice that require improvement and reform.

AfDB power, energy, climate change and green growth development VP Amadou Hott said the immediate goal for this first edition of the ERI is to incite action among key stakeholders in the African electricity sector – particularly African governments and their development partners.

“We believe this will help drive further targeted support and assistance aimed at improving national regulatory environments and building capacity among sector regulators.”

“In the long run, the ERI is intended to be a benchmarking tool that will track progress made by African countries as they align the regulatory frameworks governing their electricity sectors with international standards and best practices,” he added.