The Government of Kenya, in collaboration with the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) General Secretariat and the World Bank, held the EAPP Regional Power Trade Conference, 2024 in Mombasa, Kenya, from December 9 to 11, 2024. This prestigious event brought together regional Energy Sector stakeholders, including ministers, utility leaders, regulators, development partners, and international experts, to discuss the EAPP's readiness for the anticipated operational launch in March 2025.

The Uganda delegation was led by Hon. Okaasai Sidronius Opolot, the Minister of State for Energy representing Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development and current Chairperson of the EAPP Council of Ministers.

Eng. Ziria Tibalwa Waako represented Uganda’s Electricity Regulatory Authority and on day one of the conference she presented to the Council of Ministers the significant progress made in establishing the IRB Secretariat in Kampala, Uganda. ERA received widespread commendations for its efforts.

On day three, Eng. Waako chaired discussions on regulatory harmonization across the EAPP and the transmission Tariff Methodology for Regional Power Trading, which subjects are crucial to ensuring that the EAPP Power Market is ready to go live by March 2025. She highlighted the EAPP's remarkable progress in laying the foundation for a fully integrated regional power market across Eastern Africa.

She further emphasized that the integration aims to leverage the region’s vast, untapped renewable energy resources, ensuring an affordable and reliable power supply through cross-border trade. Further still, she noted that the recent approval of the Market Rules and Regulations represents a significant milestone in this transformative effort.

The Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) is a regional institution established in 2005 to coordinate cross-border power trade and grid interconnection among nations of the Eastern Africa region. The EAPP currently has thirteen (13) member countries that signed the Inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding (IGMOU) and fourteen utilities that signed the Inter-Utility Memorandum of Understanding (IUMOU).

The pool comprises the following countries: Burundi, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Libya, South Sudan, and Somalia.