The Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) is set to launch its competitive regional electricity market in April 2026, the acting Director General of the Independent Regulatory Board (IRB), Eng. Ziria Tibalwa Waako, has announced.
Eng. Waako, who also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Uganda’s Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA), said the Council of Ministers, EAPP’s supreme governing body, will oversee the market’s launch.
“The IRB has taken all the necessary steps to ensure that, upon going live, the Eastern Africa Electricity Market operates transparently, attracts investments, and delivers value for money for all market participants,” she emphasized.
The announcement came at the conclusion of a week-long study visit to the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The visit, conducted in partnership with GET.transform, aimed to strengthen the IRB’s institutional and technical capacity to effectively regulate Eastern Africa’s upcoming competitive electricity market.
During the visit, the IRB team focused on key operational areas critical for a successful regional market. These included transmission pricing and wheeling, exploring methodologies that ensure fair and efficient use of transmission networks across borders; market monitoring and surveillance, gaining practical insights from SAPP’s experience in ensuring transparency, fair competition, and market stability; and cross-border metering, understanding the technical and operational systems required for accurate energy accounting and reliable cross-border electricity trade.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the IRB and SAPP to establish a formal cooperation framework. The MoU seeks to enhance regional infrastructure integration, improve power system reliability and affordability, and foster a harmonized regulatory environment across Eastern and Southern Africa.
Eng. Waako highlighted that lessons learned during the study visit will directly support the development of a robust market monitoring and surveillance function in Eastern Africa, ensuring fair competition and system stability in cross-border power trade.
Currently, the EAPP has 13 member countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Several of these countries, including Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania, already trade electricity bilaterally. The launch of a competitive regional market is expected to improve efficiency, reduce operational costs, integrate renewable energy sources, and increase reliability.
The study visit was supported by ENGAGE, a BMZ-funded initiative aimed at accelerating Africa’s energy transition, enhancing regulatory frameworks for renewable energy investment, and expanding access to clean energy across the continent.
For comparison, the Southern African Power Pool, established in 1995 under the Southern African Development Community (SADC), comprises 12 member countries and has served as a model for regional electricity market integration.
As EAPP prepares for the launch, the region is positioning itself to benefit from a transparent, inclusive, and investment-friendly electricity market that will strengthen cross-border trade and foster sustainable energy growth.