Central African Republic's (CAR) power sector is controlled and administered by the ministry of mines, energy and hydraulics. The country's power sector is managed by a vertically-integrated public company, the Energie Centrafricaine (ENERCA). ENERCA, which was established in 1963. ENERCA produces, transmits and distributes electricity and has the monopoly on all electrical power activities.
The country has made plans to reform the power sector to attract more private investors while preserving the state’s interest, however, this has taken time due to the lack of financial and human resources to draw up the constitution of reform and for the introduction of new equipment for operating facilities and ancillary services.
The consumption of electricity in the CAR has seen a low growth rate of approximately only 2% from 1992 to 2002. Electricity production has experienced a growth of 1.94% in hydroelectric power and a reduction of 5.23% in diesel production. The existing installed capacity is still very low, currently at 18.65 MW in hydropower and 15.5 MW in diesel.
The electrical transmission network is made up two high voltage lines, linking the cities of Boali, which hosts the Mbali river hydro facilities, and Bangui, the capital of the CAR and the main centre of consumption (line 1, length 88 km at 63 kV and line 2, length 84 km at 110 kV).
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The city of Bangui, has a distribution network that includes 228 km of medium voltage and 350 km of low voltage lines. In 2002, the access rate to power in Bangui was approximately 10%, corresponding to about 14,000 clients. The rural electrification rate was below 3% in the same year.
In the provincial cities, electricity generation originates from diesel generators ranging in capacity from 40 kVA to 625 kVA. These generators were installed between 1970 and 1999. The total installed capacity is approximately 4,675 kVA. The distribution networks remains very limited (on average less than 10 km per city), and supply 1,000 subscribers.
Access to an adequate electricity supply remains difficult for most of the country's rural population and the CAR has made plans to develop the country's potential hydropower resources alongside reforming the country's electrical power sector.
