In the electricity sector, Cameroon can act quickly on two specific points: better plan investments based on network data and measure losses on a scale where they can actually be corrected.
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The time is right. Nachtigal provides 420 MW and represents about 30% of national production. The MINEE (Ministry of Water and Energy) is developing a GIS (geographic information system) platform for its electrical and hydraulic infrastructures. The Energy Compact also sets goals for network modernization and loss reduction. The public transformation of ENEO and the establishment of SOCADEL finally change the distribution framework.
I propose to take advantage of this period to test two simple methods. The first would use available data to plan investments at the territorial level. The second would track, feeder by feeder, what happens to the electricity injected into the network.
First proposal: create electrical sheets by load basin to plan investments
The market launched by MINEE for its GIS platform provides for the collection of infrastructures in at least one pilot region. The system must also integrate existing data and provide asset monitoring tools.
I propose to use this base to build electrical sheets by load basin.
A basin would group a coherent set of substations, medium voltage feeders, and consumers. Each sheet would show the actual state of the network: equipment load, incidents, outages, losses, and connection requests. It would also integrate territorial developments likely to modify demand, such as new neighborhoods, business zones, or major public facilities.
The goal is simple: identify constraints before they become emergencies.
A substation used at 85% of its capacity in an area where several thousand homes are planned calls for a different decision than a substation equally loaded in a sector where consumption changes little. Similarly, a line supplying a hospital or a major industrial zone cannot be evaluated solely by its age.
From there, each investment could receive a priority based on a few stable criteria. The saturation level matters. The frequency of interruptions too. It is also necessary to look at expected demand, the cost of works, and the importance of the served uses.
This would result in a rolling program over three to five years, revised annually. Each operation would have a short sheet with the observed problem, the planned investment, its cost, and the expected gain for the network.
I would start with a few contrasting territories. Part of a large urban area would allow testing the method under strong constraint. A growing secondary city would show how to anticipate demand increase. A less dense area would verify if the method remains relevant when needs and costs change scale.
This first exercise would mainly serve to identify the data truly useful. It would also show which information is missing and who must update it.
Local authorities can contribute to this work without encroaching on the competencies of MINEE or operators. They know future neighborhoods, economic projects, and public facilities that will evolve demand. It is better to integrate this information before deciding investments than to discover too late that a new sector has insufficient electrical capacity.
This proposal aligns with the work initiated with AFD within REDECA (Strengthening Decentralization in Cameroon), which aims notably to strengthen the capacities of urban communities and their project management. Territorial energy planning offers a concrete ground to make the State, electricity sector operators, and local authorities work together.
Second proposal: track losses and recovery feeder by feeder
The second project starts from a finding documented by the Energy Compact. It retains 15% technical losses, 15% non-technical losses, and an overall recovery rate of 72%.
These averages give an idea of the problem’s scale. They do not indicate where to act.
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I therefore propose to establish a monthly energy and commercial balance per medium voltage feeder, starting with about ten pilot feeders.
For each, the operator would compare the electricity injected at the feeder head with that recorded by meters downstream. Then, consumption would be compared to billed volumes, then to amounts actually collected.
Each discrepancy tells a different story.
If 10 million kilowatt-hours enter a feeder and meters record only 8.5 million, teams must first look for where the energy disappears. They can check network condition, overloads, irregular connections, or metering defects.
If meters record 9.5 million kilowatt-hours but the system bills only 8.8 million, the operator must look elsewhere. It is then necessary to verify the customer base, reading cycles, and poorly recorded connections.
If invoices exist but remain unpaid, the problem becomes financial. The operator must isolate receivables from administrations, public companies, and large consumers to know precisely where payment default concentrates.
The balance thus allows choosing an adapted response to each situation. One avoids reinforcing a network when the problem comes from the commercial system. One also avoids treating a recovery default as a technical loss.
Each pilot feeder could have a short action sheet. It would set the loss level at the feeder, identify the main cause, and specify the measures taken. It would also indicate the intervention cost and the target to be reached six months later.
Take a feeder with high commercial losses. The operator can start by checking large consumers, updating the customer base, and correcting defective meters. Six months later, results are compared: how many additional kilowatt-hours were billed? How much revenue was recovered? Does the intervention cost justify extending it to other feeders?
This logic allows comparing actions among themselves instead of launching national programs without knowing which actually work.
It can also feed tariff work. MINEE launched in August 2026 an international call for tenders to develop a new electricity tariff policy. The terms of reference notably request studying system costs, payment chain, arrears, and sector financial sustainability.
Better measurement of losses helps distinguish the real cost of service from inefficiencies the operator can correct.
Economist Govinda R. Timilsina reaches a similar conclusion in Policy Research Working Paper No. 11257 published by the World Bank in 2025. His study covers 67 electric companies in 47 sub-Saharan African countries. He shows that transport and distribution losses weigh heavily on operators’ financial fragility. Recovery defaults worsen the situation further. In his simulation, reducing these two problems would allow 11 of the 25 studied loss-making operators to generate revenues exceeding their operating costs.
Cameroon does not need to wait for a new institutional reform to test these two methods.
It can start with a few territories for investment planning and about ten feeders for loss analysis. After six to twelve months, results will show what works, what costs too much, and what must be modified before extending the approach.
The country now has additional production capacities and is undertaking several reforms of its electricity sector. The next challenge is to better decide where to strengthen the network and to know what happens to electricity once injected.
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It is on these two points that rapid progress remains possible.
Romain Blachier
Associate expert at the Jean-Jaurès Foundation
Consultant in energy policies
Teacher in energy geopolitics
