Rwanda's utility recycled connection fees to fund its own electrification

In 2009 only 6% of Rwandan households had electricity, one of the lowest rates in Africa. Rather than funding a single national rollout, the government (with World Bank support from 2008) built the Electricity Access Rollout Program on a spatial least-cost investment plan and a sector-wide approach that pooled all partners behind one national target.

The operating model was the clever part: planning was separated from operations — EDCL planned and executed grid expansion while EUCL ran the network — and both institutions signed annual performance contracts (imihigo) committing to electrification targets. Connection fees were treated as program capital rather than revenue: the utility reinjected them into the rollout and the government added counter-funds of up to 10%, so every new connection helped pay for the next.

The model compounded: household access rose from 6% in 2009 to 75% by March 2024, with 100% of health centres and administrative facilities and 84% of schools connected. Off-grid solar home systems — pushed through private operators with results-based financing — served 22% of households, and electricity subsidies stayed below 1.4% of GDP while the country mobilized over $1.4 billion, about $750 million from the World Bank.