Electricity Sector Organization and Performance in Burundi

Burundi faces to low access to electricity and low quality of service. It depends on the interconnected networks constructed in the decade of 1980. Despite the different reforms relate to the liberalization and reorganization of the electricity sector, the REGIDESO remains the public company in charge of the production and distribution of electricity. It has also the responsibility to pump, treat, and supply drinking water in the main and secondary urban centers.This paper makes a review of the policies, reform, and organization of the electricity sector in Burundi. We estimate the performance of the electricity sector using descriptive analysis, on the basis of secondary data collected in East Africa and from the World Development Indicators (WDI), and qualitative data obtained through semi-structured interviews and text analysis. Our results show that despite the different reforms undertaken in 2000 and 2015, the electricity sector remains mainly a natural monopoly of the state. As a result, access to electricity and consumption per capita remain the lowest of East Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa as a hall. The electricity sector is also characterized by the poor quality of service due to technical and non-technical losses. Among the non-technical losses, the unpaid bills especially for the public sector are very high. The study recommends to implement the reform undertaken in 2000 by splitting the public services of water and electricity, and the one of 2015 by unbundling the electricity sector. Policy implying private participation in the electricity sector and prioritizing regional projects for interconnection to facilitate cross-border trade of electricity are highly recommended.