Legal and Regulatory Pathways for Sub-Saharan Africa’s Energy Access and Energy Transition Agenda

The cost of extending access to electricity is high, but the cost of continued lack of electricity access is higher. This Chapter seeks to explore the legal and regulatory pathways that can be considered for a well-planned and effective transition of the energy industry in countries across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in line with the global energy transition agenda and reconciling same with the energy access gap and energy poverty in the region. It is particularly relevant, given the vagaries and dynamics of the energy landscape in countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, and the huge energy access deficit in the region, benchmarked against the drive to attain reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy for all within the tenets of the Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), alongside the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) under the Paris Agreement, particularly as it relates to developing countries. With over 600 million people lacking access to electricity in the region, investment to scale up energy access remains paramount. This is particularly key when considered, alongside the projected rise in electricity demand linked to a rising population boom in countries across the region. Access to energy remains a global development agenda, hinged on the overall drive to alleviate and eradicate energy poverty across SSA. Nevertheless, the dynamics of the electricity sectors in countries across SSA affords the opportunity to consider several pathways that can be explored from a legal and regulatory angle to attract investment and scale up energy access, while also placing the region on a trajectory for its staged energy transition, in line with the respective national agendas and the global decarbonization agenda. This chapter proffers pathways that can be explored in charting Africa’s energy transition journey. The insights from the chapter will be useful to policymakers, governments, and industry stakeholders in developing national and region-wide framework(s) for Africa’s energy transition.