Electricity bodies tipped on competitive pricing

Analysing and embracing standards could help reduce electricity prices and make them more competitive, experts have said. They called on regional governments to share some of the infrastructure equipment to reduce power tariffs. The experts were speaking, yesterday, on the second and final day of iPAD Rwanda Power and Infrastructure Investment forum. The conference is being held under the theme, “Boosting private investment for national infrastructure and industrial development,” with more than 200 energy experts, investors, credit providers and policy-makers in attendance. Recently, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) increased electricity tariffs for small-scale consumers by almost 35 per cent. The increase was attributed to shortage and high cost of power generation. However, according to Abel Didier Tella, the director-general of Association of Power Utilities of Africa in Ivory Coast, electricity bodies should put in place standards that will help minimise the risks and make prices more competitive. “We must ensure that we minimise risks but also share infrastructure equipment to help reduce electricity prices,” Tella said, explaining that infrastructure assets needed to generate and distribute electricity are expensive and should be shared to help reduce the cost. Taiwo Adeniji, the director of Nigerian investment group, Africa Finance Corporation, said infrastructure equipment is a long-term asset that must attract a long-term return once invested. “Therefore encouraging public private sector partnerships while attracting more financial resources through development financing institutions could help lower down electricity prices,” Adeniji said. In this case, Development Finance Institutions come in to fill the financial gaps that will eventually increase power generation capacity and ultimately bring down electricity prices. Jean-Bosco Mugiraneza, the ehief executive of Rwanda Energy Group Ltd, said government has already signed deals with private investors that could help reduce power tariffs in the near future. Rwanda’s installed power generation capacity stands at 161.2MW, against a target of 563MW by 2018. The country is also targeting to increase connectivity to more than 70 per cent of the population by the same time. Currently, the country’s hydro electricity generation capacity accounts for 97.37MW, thermal power at 51.7MW, methane 3.6MW, while 8.75MW is produced from energy solar. Overall, the national power generation capacity is expected to increase by 61.5MW by end of the year when projects such as Kivuwatt (25MW), Gishoma Peat Plant (15MW) and Giggawatt Solar Power Plant (8.5MW), are added to the national grid. Other efforts to increase power supply include importing 30MW from Kenya – expected by the end of the year – and another 400MW from Ethiopia by 2018.

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Electricity bodies tipped on competitive pricing