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Liberalizing Liberia’s Electricity Sector: The Role Of National Regulator, LERC

By Frank Sainworla, Jr., newspublictrust@gmail.com

Several years ago, a new law came into being passed by the Legislature setting up an autonomous electricity regulator called, the Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC).

At a recent media engagement in Monrovia, the LERC presented a paper tracking the implementation of Liberia’s Electricity Regulatory Framework since the commission started operation.

In the presentation done by the Managing Director of LERC, Augustus V. Goanue gave a detailed overview of the state of the country’s energy sector before and after Liberia’s 14 years of civil war, which officially ended in 2003, starting with the Liberian government’s direct investment in the electricity sector in the early 1940s.

The LERC Managing Director told Journalists at the forum that the total pre-war energy supply in this West African country was 403 Megawatt, including those supplied by big concession companies such as Firestone, Bong Mines and LAMCO. Out of this number of megawatt, LEC provided 191 Megawatt.

It can be recalled that the letter and spirit of the law establishing LERC is to ensure implementation an effective regulatory regime for the energy sector, liberalizing the sector and ensuring electricity is not only accessible but affordable to the Liberian public.

For the state owned Liberia Electricity Corporation, one of the mandates of LEC is to generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electrical energy throughout the country while maintaining economic viability.

Well, full text of the LERC paper is just ahead, but before that, ever since LERC came into being, there has been concerns raised as to what the Commission is doing to ensure that the electricity sector is opened up, including in the Liberian capital, Monrovia. Is LEC able to able to handle generation, transmission, distribution of electricity to the ever-increasing population in Monrovia and its environs?

However, when this writer put the question to the LERC top management, they said splitting up LEC’s functions of generation, transmission and distribution “is not currently practicable”.

Why? The LERC officials said that given the small size of the population and the amount of power needed for this market, private energy providers think it would not be profitable and recouping their investment will take a lot of time. But other experts in the sector had given an opposite opinion about this in the past.

Among other things, the purpose of the amendment of the 2015 Electricity Law is to, “ensure the promotion of sustainable and fair competition in the electricity sector where it is efficient to do so.” Ref: AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 85 OF THE 1973 PUBLIC AUTHORITIES LAW CREATINING THE LIBERIA ELECTRICITY CORPORATION AND AMENDMENT THERETO, TO ESTABLISH THE 2015 ELECTRICITY LAW OF LIBERIA

BELOW IS FULL TEXT OF THE LERC’S PAPER ON TRACKING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF LIBERIA’S ELECTRICITY REGULATORY FRAMEWORK:

Tracking the Implementation of Liberia’s Electricity Regulatory Framework

• The Government of Liberia (GOL) commenced direct investment in the Electricity Sector of Liberia in the early 1940s.
• This level of investment started with diesel thermal plants in Monrovia and continued with the construction of the 64-MW Mount Coffee Hydropower Plant in the 1960s.
• At the same time the GOL also granted concession rights to companies involved in natural rubber production, iron ore mining, logging, etc. to build electricity generating plants and supply electricity to their concession areas.
• As these two electricity development strategies progressed, the GOL, in 1973 created the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) by Law as a public utility corporation.

• The mandate of LEC is to generate, transmit, distribute and sell electrical energy throughout the country while maintaining economic viability.
• Though the LEC fulfilled its mission to a substantial extent, it was not able to increase power generation and expand the network to supply electricity to the various concession companies and other large users across the country.
• The policy of granting concession companies the right to produce and distribute electricity in their concession continued due to limited capacity and coverage of the National Electrical Network, thus making the policy quite appropriate.
• Pre-War Concessionaires Electricity Installed Capacity

• Firestone Plantation Company:                                           7 MW (4MW hydro & 3MW diesel                                                                                                                                                                            thermal               plant)
• Liberia Mining Company (LMC):                                          20 MW diesel thermal plant
• LAMCO JV Operating Company:                          65 MW diesel thermal plant
• Bong Mining Company (BMC):                                            100 MW diesel thermal plant
• National Iron Ore Company (NIOC): 20 MW diesel thermal plant
• Total:                                                    212MW 

Pre-War LEC’s Electricity Installed Capacity

1. Mount Coffee Hydro Plant:                                          64 MW
2. Luke Plant Slow Speed Diesel Engine:      40 MW
3. Bushrod Plant Mitsubishi Engines:                            10 MW
4. Bushrod Gas Turbine Plant           :                               64 MW
5. Rural Electrification (isolated grids):                         13 MW

Total:                                                    191 MW

Summary of Pre-war Electricity Installed Capacity

The above table shows a parallel development of the electricity sector in Liberia, where concessionaires generated and exclusively supplied power to their concession areas, and the National Utility of Liberia (LEC) generated electricity and supplied power to the rest of the country.

• By the end of the Liberian Civil War in 2003, the entire electricity infrastructure of Liberia had been destroyed.
• The Government began the reconstruction of electricity infrastructure in 2006 under the Emergency Power Program (EPP) following the two-year interim period (2003 – 2005)
• The EPP first installed a 2.64-MW high speed diesel generator in 2006, which increased to 22MW by 2010.

GOL efforts to revamp the power sector led to the following transformative actions:

• Development of the National Energy Policy
• Cross-border connection with Côte d’Ivoire (initially in Nimba, Grand Gedeh, and Maryland), 33kV MV lines; 8MW in total. Bong and River Gee now connected
• West African Power Pool CLSG Regional Transmission Line (225kV lines; 530km across Liberia with 5 sub-stations to facilitate import and export of electricity
• Establishment of the Rural and Renewable Energy Agency (RREA) to address off-grid and renewable solutions
• Construction of Bushrod Thermal Power (38MW HFO)
• Rehabilitation of Mt. Coffee Hydropower Plant (88 MW)
• Enactment of the 2015 Electricity Law of Liberia, which established the Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC)
• Installation of 20MW Solar Power Plant at Mt. Coffee
• Other plans underway to increase power generation and expand the sector (SP2, Solar IPPs, etc.)

• Transmission Facilities: The current LEC Transmission System operates at 66kV and now covers Bomi, Cape Mount, Margibi and Montserrado counties covering a total of 376km with 13 substations.
• Distribution Facilities: The National Utility operates 2,191km of medium and low voltage lines with 3,341 transformers
• Private Sector Participation: Other private operators or service providers (distribution and mini-grids) are currently active in the electricity sector
• CHALLENGES OF THE ELECTRICITY SECTOR

1. Lack of Integrated Power Sector Master Plan;
2. Imbalance in generation capacity with chronic and seasonal power shortages leading to load shedding;
3. Fragile transmission and distribution infrastructure incapable of delivering large power;
4. Ineffective mechanisms or incentives to attract private investment;
5. Slow pace in addressing sector governance;
6. OVERVIEW OF THE LIBERIA ELECTRICITY REGULATORY COMMISSION

LERC is the Creation of:

• The 2009 National Energy Policy
• The 2015 Electricity Law of Liberia LERC
• Became operational in late 2018

To ensure the coordinated and accelerated growth and development of the electricity sector in a conducive and competitive environment for sustainability.

Functions:

• Licensing operators in the sector
• Approving tariffs and charges for services provided
• Approving sector plans and the investments by operators
• establishing and monitoring of technical standards and codes
• Resolving disputes between consumers and service providers (operators) or between licensees (service providers/operators.
• LERC is governed by a three-member Board of Commissioners (BoC) headed by the chairperson.
• The role of the BoC is to:
  • approve regulatory policies and strategic management decisions
  • provide oversight of LERC operations
• The LERC management team is headed by the Managing Director whose duties include:
  • Carrying the out day to day operations of LERC and providing administrative support to the BoC
  • undertaking research to provide evidence-based recommendations for BoC approval
  • implementing BoC decisions and approved recommendations
• Developed and published 16 regulatory instruments
• Reduced the price of electricity (tariff) from US$0.35/kWh to US$0.21/kWh on average
• Issued 10 licenses and permits to operators or service providers (LEC, JEP, TEC, and LIBENERGY, and Energicity)
• Issued one license to solar PV installer
• Has a fully functional and active website (lerc.gov.lr)
• Established online registration and application portal for licensing and certificating electricians and electrical contractors (
• LERC is now a full-fledged member of the African Forum for Utility regulators (AFUR) and will be hosting AFUR’s Conference and Annual General Assembly in April 2027
• LERC is a member of the Consultative Committee of Regulators and Operators (CCRO) of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA)
• “ERERA has recognized LERC’s licensing process is well defined, complete and publicized, and described it as the best examples among the licensing framework analyzed in West African Countries”. This special recognition of Liberia licensing framework is a testimony of the quality of LERC’s regulatory governance and instruments.
• According to the latest edition (2024) of the Electricity Regulatory Index (ERI) for Africa, LERC is now ranked 9^th out of 43 electricity regulators in Africa. The ERI, done by the African Development Bank (AfDB) is a peer review mechanism and diagnostic tool which benchmarks and measures the development of electricity sector regulatory frameworks across African countries against international standards and best practices.
• List of Regulatory Instruments Completed and Published on LERC Website –
• Electricity Licensing Regulations
• Micro Utility Licensing Regulations. Regulatory
• Electricity Licensing Handbook
• Administrative Procedure Regulations
• Electricity Tariff Regulations
• Multi Year Tariff Methodology.
• Customer Service and Quality of Supply Regulations
• Complaints and Disputes Resolution Regulations
• Mini Grid Code
• Electricity Distribution Code
• Grid Code
• Solar Energy Product Technical Regulations
• Certification and Licensing of Electrical professional and Contractors Regulations
• Electrical Wiring Regulations
• Liberia Electrical Wiring Code
• Penalties Regulations

Current Tariff Schedule