Over 664,000 New Households Gain Access to Electricity in Ethiopia

**During the Ethiopian fiscal year ended July 7, 2026, Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) has managed to connect 664,505 households to electricity, said the state agency in charge of electricity distribution in Ethiopia. **

EES had planned to provide electricity access to 800,000 new customers. However, the institution managed to connect 664,505 households to electricity, its Chief Executive Officer, Engineer Getu Geremew, announced during a press briefing held at Hyatt Regency Hotel.

According to the CEO, although the figure may appear modest at first glance, achieving this level of performance is unprecedented in the institution’s history. He noted that this achievement places the institution among the leading utility companies in Africa.

The fiscal year’s performance was 162,917 customers, or 32.5 percent, higher than the previous year. As a result, the institution’s total number of customers has exceeded 5.88 million. Of the customers served, 56.8 percent are postpaid customers, while 43.2 percent use prepaid meters. It is also stated that under the recently introduced credit-based system, 19,231 customers received free electricity services from the main grid, while another 3,364 customers received free services from off-grid systems.

Bridging the Divide: Inside Ethiopia’s Push for Universal Power
Ethiopia’s multi-year campaign to illuminate its population has secured incremental but steady progress over the last five years. According to tracking from the Ethiopian Government and the World Bank Open Data platform, the national electrification rate climbed sequentially from 54.2% in 2021 to 55.4% in 2023, reaching 56.6% by 2024.

This growth has been anchored by aggressive state infrastructure initiatives and the World Bank-supported Ethiopia Electrification Program (ELEAP), an initiative that directly financed over 1.6 million grid connections. Yet, this upward trajectory masks a deep demographic divide.

While urban centers enjoy a near-universal electrification rate of 94.7%, rural household connectivity severely lags at roughly 43.6%, leaving millions in the dark. This geographic imbalance underscores the massive logistical and financial bottlenecks facing East Africa’s second-most populous nation.

Profiles maintained by the Africa Energy Portal rank Ethiopia’s energy deficit as the second-largest in Sub-Saharan Africa, stranding between 60 million and 71 million individuals without electricity. Energy planners face an uphill battle against a vast, mountainous topography that inflates the cost of transmission line extensions.

Furthermore, localized grid instability triggers frequent blackouts across existing lines, while a critical 95% over-reliance on hydropower leaves the entire national generation capacity vulnerable to climate-induced seasonal droughts. To circumvent the limitations of a central grid, the government is shifting toward a highly decentralized, multi-source energy model.

Scaling the country’s generation capacity toward a 17.1 GW target by 2030 is fundamental to reshaping the broader economy. To reach isolated populations, stakeholders are prioritizing off-grid solar mini-grids that bypass traditional transmission challenges. Concurrently, the integration of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is expected to stabilize baseline power supplies, while incoming multi-million dollar international capital programs, such as the World Bank’s $424 million ASCENT initiative, provide the fiscal runway needed to fast-track clean energy connections.