The Ministry of Energy (MOE) is implementing the World Bank funded Electricity Service Access Project (ESAP) through the Rural Electrification Authority (REA). The ESAP is for a period of 5 years, effective from June 2018.

The objective of the Electricity Service Access Project is to increase electricity access in Zambia’s targeted rural areas. There are three components to the project, the first component being on-grid electricity access expansion. This component is providing financing for on-grid connections in rural areas using the approaches under the OBA/connection fee subsidy program. To support the ‘last mile’ connections, the project is also financing critical distribution network reinforcements and extensions through applying low-cost technologies where appropriate that will enable ZESCO to add new connections to the grid, complementing ongoing access expansion efforts by CPs in other parts of the country.  The second component is the off-grid electricity access expansion. This component is initially funding required upstream activities to enable the private sector participation in rural off-grid electrification, including identifying and scoping off-grid sites, helping the GRZ address the existing regulatory impediments, building the needed capacity at key institutions, and designing financial mechanisms. Finally, the third component is the capacity building and project implementation support. This component is financing technical assistance (TA) to the GRZ to ensure that the project reaches its objective of enhancing and improving the enabling environment needed for a substantially scaled-up electrification effort.

Component A1 of the ESAP initially targeted to connect about 22,000 households(HH) at a subsidized connection fee of K250 and 1,000  small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME)  at a fee of K769.However due to overwhelming response, the project revised the target to a total of 38,000 connections, inclusive of HHs and SMEs 

As of 10th January, the project connected total of the project successfully connected 40,346 beneficiaries under the connection subsidy program. Out of the 40,346 connected customers, 40,027 were gender title-entered whereas 319 were non-titled, with 11,938 connections being for women headed, accounting for 30%, and 28,089 connections being for men headed, accounting for 70%. Of the 40,027 gender titled connected customers 34,267 are households whereas 5,760 are MSEs, representing 86% and 14% respectively. Further, the connection backlog stood at 5,383 compared to 5,391 as at 3rd January, 2022.