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1.Management of the Rural Electrification Programme Fund established under section 79(S 67) (a))
Section 79 of the Act establishes the Rural Electrification Programme Fund to support the electrification of rural areas and other areas considered economically unviable for electricity by the licensees. The fund consists of: (a) the electricity sales levy
(b) fees and other charges levied by the Commission under the Act;
(c) such moneys as may be appropriated by Parliament for that purpose;
(d) donations, grants and loans; and
(e) all other moneys lawfully received or made available for the programme as the Minister may approve.
Currently, the Electric Power (Rural Electrification Levy) Order 1998 (L.N. No. 96 of 1998) which was promulgated under the repealed Electric Power Act 1997 is still in force. The Legal Notice provided for the imposition of the 5% levy on electricity sales and the remission of the same to the Minister for Energy. There is need for the Minister or Energy to gazette new regulations under the Energy Act 2006 to revoke the old regulations to enable KPLC to remit the 5% levy directly to REA.
2.Development and updating of the rural electrification master plan (s 67 (b))
The Rural Electrification Authority (REA) was established by the Energy Act to manage the Rural Electrification Programme. This includes the formulation of a rolling Rural Electrification Programme Master Plan which would present least-cost electrification options for target areas. The master plan prioritizes list of projects for implementation based on economic and social factors. The first master plan was developed in 1997 and is currently being updated to show what has so far been done and to come up with new load centres. The government of Finland is financing the updating of the current master plan which started in January 2007 and is expected to be completed in September this year.
3.Implementation and sourcing of additional funds for rural electrification programme(s 67 (c))
REA is mandated by the Act to source for funding for the rural electrification programme from various sources as indicated under the Act. One of the possible ways of funding the programme is by agreement with the private sector. These agreements may be by way of Public Private Partnerships (PPP’s).
The other possible way of sourcing for funding is through donor funding where REA may enter into development credit agreements with international donors to fund various projects.
4. To promote the use of renewable energy sources (s 67 (d))
Under the Act REA is mandated to also explore, promote and develop the use of other renewable sources of energy. These include, Solar, Wind, Small hydro, Power alcohol, Bio diesel, Biogas and Municipal and Industrial Waste energy, among others.
5.Management of the delineation, tendering and award of contracts for licence and permits for rural electrification (s 67 (e))
Under this function, REA is supposed to identify the areas where rural electrification will be done. It then advertises for the same and awards contracts to such persons; then recommends them to ERC for licensing.
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