The Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA) has blamed recurring nationwide electricity outages on transmission lines shared with neighboring countries, while promising measures are underway to prevent further disruptions.
The announcement follows widespread blackouts on the evening of Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, which affected multiple regions across the country. Similar outages also occurred on Nov. 9, 2025, leaving many households and businesses without power and with little explanation from the Rwanda Energy Group (REG), the agency responsible for electricity supply.
Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye, Minister of State for Infrastructure said the intermittent outages are largely beyond Rwanda’s immediate control. Using social media platform X on Tuesday, Jan. 6, he apologized to Rwandans for the inconvenience.
“The Ministry of Infrastructure apologizes to Rwandans for the significant electricity outages in the country recently,” Uwihanganye said. “These problems have increased mainly due to transmission lines we share with other countries. When issues occur there, they affect us as well.”
He added that the government is taking steps to ensure the outages are not permanent. “We have begun measures to better protect our transmission networks and reduce the impact of such issues. Projects are underway, and while they will take time, we are expediting them. We assure Rwandans that the problem will be resolved soon, and updates will be shared as progress is made,” he said.
Rwanda has made significant gains in electricity access over the past two decades. In 2000, only 2% of households had electricity. By 2010, the figure had reached 10%, and today approximately 85% of the population is connected.
Despite this progress, the recent outages highlight Rwanda’s dependence on regional electricity interconnections, which can occasionally disrupt supply when neighboring networks face technical or operational problems.
Officials say ongoing investments in local infrastructure, coupled with preventive maintenance and upgraded transmission systems, are expected to strengthen national power resilience in the coming months. Uwihanganye emphasized that the government is committed to maintaining a stable electricity supply and minimizing the impact of future outages on households, businesses, and public services.
