IRB Hosts World Bank on Three-Day Project Identification Mission

The Independent Regulatory Board (IRB) of the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) hosted a Three-day engagement with the World Bank on the newly established Regional Energy Transmission, Trade and Decarbonization (RETRADE EAST) Project.

The engagement held from 22^nd to 24^th September, 2025 at the IRB Office in Kampala – Uganda, sought to identify priority activities under the IRB’s mandate for potential support by the World Bank, under its RETRADE EAST Project, for advancement of the Eastern Africa Power market.

The RETRADE EAST Project aims to establish a robust and scalable platform that assists countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa region in scaling up cross-border Electricity trade.

From the engagement, critical areas including: Key Rules and Procedures on IRB’s operations; Monitoring and Surveillance of the Eastern Africa Electricity Market; development of Regional Regulatory Framework; Dispute Resolution; and Capacity Building were identified for possible funding by the World Bank.

Eng. Ziria Tibalwa Waako, the Chief Executive Officer of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) in Uganda and Chairperson of the IRB, during the engagement, thanked the World Bank for its continued support to the Regional Power agenda, especially in regard to operationalizing the IRB and the preparations for Go-Live of the EAPP Electricity market.

She expressed willingness of the IRB to boost its technical regulatory capacity by learning from the highly developed Electricity markets.

Dr. Kabir Malik, Senior Energy Specialist at the World Bank, noted that it was important for the IRB to have the right Technical capacity for effective regulation of the Eastern Africa Electricity market. He called for IRB’s collaboration and partnership with other institutions for strengthened Capacity building. The institutions include the Energy Regulators Association of East Africa (EREA), the African School of Regulation (ASR), the University of Cape Town (UCT), the Regional Association of Energy Regulators for Eastern and Southern Africa (RAERESA) and the African Forum for Utility Regulators (AFUR).

The engagement ended with a thought-provoking Online Training by the World Bank, highlighting key tenets of Electricity market regulation and the pivotal role played by Regulators in ensuring that Market Rules are followed. The aspects of effective Dispute resolution and Transparency were also identified as essential catalysts for the maturity of Electricity markets.

The training was attended by several participants from the IRB Member regulatory bodies.