BERA to revise ‘lifeline’ electricity tariffs
Mbongeni Mguni | Monday July 6, 2026 06:00
The revision will also ensure greater operational stability for the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) and encourage investment in the electricity sector, the regulator’s CEO, Never Tshabang, said on Monday.
Speaking at the Future of Mining Summit, he said it was evident that the 200 kilowatt per hour tariff ,charged as the lowest for domestic usage, was benefiting users who were not the intended targets and could afford to pay more.
The BPC charges about 69 thebe for domestic electricity usage up to 200 kilowatt per hour, after a 30 percent reduction effected last year. The tariff is known as a “lifeline tariff” and designed for lower income households.
“The problem is that 200 kilowatts per hour it looks like everybody in the country is in that 200 kilowatt per hour,” he said. “So me, all the MPs, directors here are enjoying that 200 kilowatts per hour and it affects the business of the utility.”
The CEO said BERA was looking at lowering the threshold to 100 kilowatts per hour and possibly going further to the international standard of 50 kilowatts per hour.
“We are trying to find ways of how government can subsidise low-income groups without subsidising each and everybody here. “That is the problem is that when a subsidisation policy comes, it subsidises everybody including CEOs and so forth,” he said.
Tshabang said BERA’s numbers showed that 48 percent of BPC consumers were covered by the current tariff for usage of up to 200 kilowatts per hour.
“We are trying to look at that so that the utility can realise some profits and also try as much as possible to move to cost-effective targets,” he explained. “At the moment we do not have a cost-effective structure mainly because of the 200 kilowatts.”
The BPC remains below cost reflective tariffs, a situation that for years has forced government to provide increasingly costly subsidies. The Corporation expects some relief to come through the completion of rehabilitation work at Morupule B, which will significantly reduce the amount of imported power required by the country.
The lowering of the 200 kilowatt per hour threshold echoes other reviews ongoing in government to tighten subsidies in order to better target beneficiaries and enhance the sustainability of the interventions.