Top 10 African countries with the strongest energy regulation frameworks
The African Development Bank has released the 2024 edition of its Electricity Regulatory Index (ERI), confirming significant progress among African countries in strengthening the regulatory frameworks governing their electricity sectors.
Business Insider Africa presents the African countries with the strongest energy regulation frameworks in 2024
The ranking is courtesy the AfDB's 2024 Electricity Regulatory Index (ERI),
Senegal ranks highest in the 2024 index due to successful reforms and enhanced transparency, followed by Kenya and Uganda.
This year's ERI results reflect not just the adoption of laws and policies, but the tangible implementation of reforms by various African countries, leading to stronger and more autonomous regulatory institutions.
Since its launch in 2018, the ERI has served as a diagnostic and policy support tool designed to help governments, regulators, and development partners identify regulatory gaps, monitor progress, and prioritize reform efforts.
The 2024 edition draws on extensive feedback from national utilities, energy regulators, and regional electricity bodies. It evaluates countries across three core pillars: Regulatory Governance, Regulatory Substance, and Regulatory Outcomes, each measuring a specific dimension of how well a country's regulatory framework supports transparency, efficiency, accountability, and long-term investment.
According to the Bank, the latest results confirm that African electricity regulators are evolving. Once seen primarily as administrative arms of government, many have grown into strategic institutions with measurable influence on energy policy and market performance. Countries are beginning to move from commitment to delivery.
Wale Shonibare, Director for Energy Financial Solutions, Policy and Regulation at the Bank Group, described the 2024 index as telling a 'hopeful story,' adding that regulators across the continent are beginning to show results.
' African countries are not just passing laws, they are implementing them. Regulators are transforming from administrative bodies into strategic institutions with measurable influence, ' he said.
Top 10 Countries in the 2024 ERI
The full list of the top ten performers based on their ERI scores is presented below:
Rank Country ERI Score Governance (RGI) Substance (RSI) Outcomes (ROI)
1 Senegal 0.892 0.927 0.949 0.848
2 Kenya 0.889 0.926 0.941 0.837
3 Uganda 0.885 0.963 0.988 0.745
4 Namibia 0.875 0.871 0.883 0.870
5 Tanzania 0.858 0.899 0.888 0.786
6 Zimbabwe 0.848 0.869 0.946 0.730
7 Rwanda 0.826 0.916 0.952 0.610
8 Benin 0.807 0.887 0.849 0.687
9 Liberia 0.803 0.849 0.866 0.694
10 Niger 0.799 0.881 0.746 0.770
Senegal tops the 2024 Electricity Regulatory Index for the first time with a score of 0.892, driven by recent reforms and the 2021 creation of the CRSE, which boosted regulatory independence and transparency.
Kenya ranks second at 0.889, thanks to EPRA's efforts in tariff reform and investor confidence.
Uganda, the long-time leader, drops to third with 0.885, still leading in governance and substance, but affected by a decline in outcomes due to stalled power agreements expected to resume in 2025.
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