Electricity sector reforms in Rwanda: Effects of privatization on electricity supply industry

Abstract

The Electricity sector in Rwanda has been subject to reforms to introduce private capital, promote efficiency and encourage competition. This paper provides an assessment of the impact of private sector participation on the performance of the electricity sector industry in Rwanda using data for 40 electricity generation plants, over the period of 2000 to 2019. The study highlights the impact of privatization on increasing generating capacity, electricity generated, losses and capacity factor of the generation plants. The main conclusion is that privatization has a positive effect on in increasing generation capacity and efficiency of the plants. However, introducing private investment does not seem to be effective in reducing losses and electricity prices.