600m Africans Lack Electricity, Summit Seeks Power Sector Overhaul

• ACBF, AU, Benin mobilise policymakers, investors to tackle failing utilities, unlock energy financing, accelerate industrialisation

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Nearly 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa remain without electricity, exposing the scale of the continent’s energy crisis. Owing to this, policymakers, investors and development partners are preparing to meet in Benin Republic to push for reforms aimed at making power supply reliable, affordable, and capable of driving industrialisation.

The persistent electricity deficit, compounded by unreliable grid supply and the high cost of self-generation for businesses, will take centre stage at the 12th Africa Think Tank Summit in Cotonou, from October 28 to 30.

Participants are expected to confront the structural, regulatory, and financing challenges holding back the continent’s power sector.

The summit, convened by African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), in collaboration with the government of Benin and African Union, comes amid growing recognition that expanding electricity access alone will not deliver economic transformation without financially sustainable utilities, effective regulation, and investment in infrastructure.

Under the theme, “From Energy Access to Economic Transformation: Practical Policy Pathways for Power Sector Viability, Growth, and Reform in Africa,” the meeting will seek to move the continent’s energy debate beyond political commitments towards practical reforms that improve electricity supply, strengthen utility performance and enable businesses to compete.

About 300 policymakers, researchers, private investors and development partners from more than 50 countries are expected to attend the three-day gathering.

The stakes extend beyond household electrification. Unreliable electricity forces many African businesses to rely on generators and other costly alternatives, increasing production expenses, eroding competitiveness, and constraining the expansion of industries that could create jobs and strengthen national economies.

For African governments pursuing industrialisation and economic diversification, the challenge is to ensure that power systems can supply energy consistently while remaining financially viable and attractive to investors.

Executive Secretary of ACBF, Mamadou Biteye, said reliable and affordable electricity was indispensable to Africa’s structural transformation, but warned that access alone would not deliver the desired economic gains.

Biteye stated, “We need institutions capable of implementing reform, utilities that can deliver sustainably, and African evidence that informs the decisions being made.

“This summit is about bringing those elements together and moving from ambition to implementation.”

The summit will examine reforms to improve the financial health and operational performance of electricity utilities, strengthen policy and regulatory frameworks, mobilise private capital, expand regional power trade and broaden access to clean cooking solutions.

A central issue is how to build utilities capable of maintaining infrastructure, expanding networks, and delivering dependable electricity without persistent financial difficulties undermining their operations.

Director of the African School of Regulation, Dr Abdulkadir Shettima, said effective regulation was essential to building financially viable power utilities, attracting investment and ensuring reliable, affordable electricity.

He said the summit offered an opportunity to advance practical, evidence-based reforms that could accelerate the continent’s energy transformation.