East Africa: Grid Access Grows, but Reliable Power Lags As Four in 10 Turn to Solar

23 October 2026
Afrobarometer (Accra)
By Kimayu Mue and Mercy Kaburu

Kenyans, Tanzanians, and Ugandans record contrasting experiences addressing household energy needs.

Key findings

  • The share of households with connections to the national power grid has risen steadily in Kenya and Tanzania over the past decade, reaching 64% and 52%, respectively. Gains of 10 percentage points in Kenya and 14 points in Tanzania since 2021/2022 are the largest increases recorded by Afrobarometer.
  • o In Uganda, grid connections have not advanced over the decade, lagging at 28%.
  • A reliable supply of electricity (available "most" or "all" of the time) reaches 47% of Kenyans, 34% of Tanzanians, and 16% of Ugandans, compared with an average of 43% across 38 surveyed countries.
  • Over the past decade, the share of all citizens with reliable grid electricity has risen in all three countries - by 21 percentage points in Tanzania, 14 points in Kenya, and 5 points in Uganda.
  • But among connected households, the share enjoying reliable electricity has declined by 15 points in Kenya and 14 points in Uganda compared to 2021/2022, indicating significant challenges of unreliable service.
  • About four in 10 households in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda (each 42%) use an electricity source other than the national grid - nearly twice the average rate (23%) across 38 surveyed countries.
  • More than nine in 10 users of alternative electricity sources opt for solar panels (95% in Kenya, 92% in Tanzania, 91% in Uganda), compared to the 38-country average of 70%. Generators, which account for 12% of alternative use across 38 countries, are almost absent (less than 1%).

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Electricity availability and access have become a key test of development promises in East Africa, with governments pushing for universal access and Mission 300 promising to connect an additional 300 million sub-Saharan Africans by 2030. Around half of these new connections are expected to be through off-grid and mini-grid solar solutions, rather than grid extension (World Bank, 2025a, 2025b).

In Kenya, the government is committed to ensuring universal electricity coverage through the Last Mile Connectivity Project, which has delivered grid electricity to millions of households since 2015 (Kenya Power, n.d.; African Development Bank, 2023).

In Tanzania, almost all 12,318 villages have grid electricity thanks to the 2,115-megawatt Julius Nyerere Hydropower Plant, which was officially commissioned in August 2026 (Mayala, 2025; Mhagama, 2026b).

As Uganda plans to achieve universal access by 2030, it transitioned to government ownership of the national distribution network in 2025 after 20 years of private concession (World Bank, 2026; Business Times Uganda, 2025).

Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, the founding members of the East African Community (EAC), share a common regional vision for electricity. Article 101 of the EAC Treaty officially mandates partner states to cooperate in the energy sector. The article commits them to promoting least-cost development and transmission of electric power, an integrated policy on rural electrification, and interconnections of their electrical grids (East African Community, 1999). The EAC Energy Security Policy Framework builds on this mandate and guides partner states in improving the security and affordability of electricity, biomass, and oil and gas supplies (East African Community, 2018).

All three nations are also part of the Eastern Africa Power Pool (n.d.), a regional body established in 2005 to enhance cross-border energy trade and increase access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity.

This dispatch analyses citizens' experiences of access to, reliability of, and alternatives to grid electricity in these three East African countries.

Findings from Afrobarometer's Round 10 surveys show contrasting experiences across the three countries. Tanzania and Kenya have recorded large gains in household grid connections over the past decade, while Uganda has seen little change and remains among the least-connected countries on the continent. All three countries have seen increases in the share of households enjoying a reliable supply of electricity.

At the same time, the share of connected households whose supply of electricity is reliable has declined significantly in Kenya and Uganda.

Meanwhile, about four in 10 citizens in each country use an electricity source other than the national grid, nearly double the average across 38 surveyed countries in Africa. More than nine in 10 of these users rely on solar panels.

Kimayu Mue Kimayu Mue is a Kenyan economist and researcher.

Mercy Kaburu Mercy Kaburu is an assistant professor of international relations at United States International University-Nairobi, Kenya.

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

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