The Independent Regulatory Board (IRB) of the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) is a regional regulator that has its origins in 2005 when the Governments of Eastern African countries signed an Inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding (IGMOU), on February 24, 2005, to establish the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP). In the IGMOU the EAPP was set up with six organs, among which are the Council of Ministers (COM) and the Independent Regulatory Board (IRB).
On January 20, 2012, the national regulators and Energy Ministry representatives of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda met in Nairobi, Kenya to deliberate on the regulatory issues of the EAPP. They formed the Eastern Africa Regulatory Forum to lead and facilitate the establishment of the IRB.
At the 5th meeting of the Council of Ministers (COM) held in Addis Ababa on March 30, 2012, COM accepted the request of the Eastern Africa Regulatory Forum and officially established the Independent Regulatory Board and agreed to be located at EAPP’s General Secretariat in Addis Ababa for a foreseeable future, until conditions are deemed appropriate for its full establishment.
The EAPP and the IRB comprise the following thirteen countries: Burundi, Djibouti, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Libya, Rwanda, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
In the 5th Annual IRB Board Meeting held at Park Inn, Kigali, Rwanda from 15th to 16th December 2022, the IRB board resolved that the seat of the IRB Secretariat shall be located in Kampala, Uganda.