Somalia's Electricity Act 2023, explained

Where Xidig members may contribute

Learning and service openings, not confirmed contracts or tenders:

• Translation and legal review: a checked English version of the Act and its regulations would help investors and diaspora professionals.
• Regulatory skills: tariff modelling, licensing compliance and consumer-complaint systems.
• Company support: helping smaller electricity companies meet reporting and service standards.

Possible services, research, supplier or collaboration roles

• A members' plain-language guide to getting a licence, once the licensing regulation is public.
• Compliance support for small providers under the licence threshold.
• Research: comparing tariffs before and after licensing, using members' bills.

Who may find this useful

• Lawyers and regulatory specialists.
• Energy economists and tariff analysts.
• Electricity company managers.
• Solar and mini-grid developers.

What the Act says

The text.

• Where it is published: the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources publishes the Act only in Somali.
• What the file is: it is headed "HINDISA-SHARCIYEEDKA KORONTADA QARANKA, Sharci Lr /2022", which Xidig reads as a 2022 draft bill. It carries no signature page.
• Numbering differences: the regulator's website cites Article 3 for the sector's institutional framework and Articles 13–14 for tariffs; in the published file these articles sit in other chapters.
• English version: Xidig found no official or donor English translation.

The summary below follows the published file. The English glosses are Xidig's unofficial working translations.

The regulator (NEA).

• Role: the file describes the Authority as responsible for administering and regulating the country's electricity (Art. 20). It is independent in carrying out its duties (Art. 22), though the NEA's own website calls it "quasi-autonomous".
• Board: it has nine members appointed by the minister, serving five-year terms (Arts. 25–26).
• Setting up: the Cabinet approved the NEA's establishment in July 2023. It also approved tariff and licensing regulations.
• Stated tasks: the NEA's website describes its work as including dispute resolution "through technical committees" and "weighing fines and compensations".

Licences.

• Who needs one: licences are issued for generation, transmission or distribution, and no one may operate without one (Art. 37).
• Small providers: providers, and people generating for their own use, below a set amount are treated differently. The Act does not state the threshold; Article 37(4) leaves it to the licensing regulation. Article 37(4) says they need no licence, while 37(5) says they apply for a general licence; larger providers need separate licences for each activity. Xidig could not reconcile the two clauses from the text.
• Transfers: licences cannot be transferred or sold without the Authority's written consent (Art. 38).
• General licence terms: its duration is left to a regulation (Art. 40); its fee is set by the Authority after consulting the ministry (Art. 41).
• Revocation: the Authority can revoke a licence, for example for non-compliance or unpaid fines (Art. 44).

Tariffs.

• Tariff rules: the Authority issues the tariff regulation (Art. 58). Tariffs should let efficient providers recover their costs with a reasonable return (Art. 58).
• Grants and support: where grants or support payments exist for generation and distribution, tariffs are to take them into account so that tariffs are lowered (Art. 58). Xidig found no express provision on cross-subsidy between customer groups.
• Methodology: the NEA has published a "Tariff Methodology and Tariff Adjustment Formulae Regulation". It covers generation-only, network-only and integrated operators such as today's town electricity companies.

Consumers and competition.

• Consumer rights: consumers have a right to adequate, good-quality and affordable electricity (Art. 62).
• Competition: the Authority can fine companies that act to harm competition (Art. 64).

Federal and regional roles.

• Offices: the Authority is headquartered in the capital, with offices in the Federal Member States (Art. 21).
• Regional dispatch: regional dispatch centres are to be built in cooperation with regional administrations (Arts. 68–69).
• Somaliland: it has its own electricity regulator (World Bank, 2021).

What has happened since 2023

• Interim licences: the NEA issued interim licences to 13 electricity service providers for June–December 2024, and planned to extend them to 30 June 2025. In February 2025 the World Bank recorded regulations for generation, distribution and tariffs as "approved and operational".
• Budget and staff: in February 2025 the NEA had not yet received a government budget provision. Its legal and technical advisers began on contracts effective 1 February 2025 (World Bank aide-mémoire).
• Licences for 20 providers: on 1–2 November 2025 the NEA issued licences to 20 electricity service providers; the licence types were not stated. The Africa Minigrids Program wrote: "It marks the first time since the collapse of the central government in 1991 that ESPs are operating under a unified, legally recognized licensing system."
• Tariff framework: at the same event the NEA validated Somalia's first national Tariff Regulation Framework. Partners are also supporting a digital monitoring system.
• Law marked as enacted: a World Bank project report of November 2025 marks "Enactment of FGS Electricity Law/Act" as achieved.
• Gaps: Xidig found no NEA decision setting tariff levels, no grid code and no regulation specific to mini-grids.

What this means. The Act gives Somalia's electricity sector a legal basis for licensing and tariff regulation, and the regulator is now using it. Much of the detail sits in regulations rather than the Act. The government's SONEC proposal cites Article 44, which in the published text deals with revoking licences (see More about the source).

Dependencies and implementation constraints

• Regulations: thresholds, fees and licence terms depend on regulations that Xidig could not read online. The Cabinet approved licensing and tariff regulations in July 2023; later sources cite "NEA Licensing Regulations (2024)", so they may have been revised.
• Funding and staff: the regulator depends on these, and partly on donor support.
• Federal and regional cooperation: needed for dispatch and local offices.

Risks and unknowns

• Signed text: whether the signed Act matches the published draft.
• Tariff levels: how tariff rules will change what customers pay.
• National grid company: its timing and structure.

Questions members should verify before acting

1. Does the signed Act match the published file, especially its article numbers?
2. What is the licence threshold in the licensing regulation?
3. What licence fees and terms apply?
4. Has the NEA approved any tariff levels?
5. Has the national electricity company been set up?

What is confirmed, and what isn't

Confirmed

• Signing on 8 March 2023 and approval by both houses (ministry).
• The NEA's establishment, interim licences in 2024 and licences for 20 providers in November 2025.
• The contents of the published Somali file summarised above.

Our interpretation

• Much of the practical detail sits in regulations rather than the Act.

Not yet verified

• The signed text and its article numbering.
• The licence threshold, fees and terms.
• Any tariff decisions.

Relevant next steps

• Read the Somali text on the ministry's website and the NEA's regulations page.
• Follow the NEA for licensing rounds and tariff decisions.
• Members with legal and Somali-language skills: help review a translation through Xidig.