The Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) has been awarded a blanket tarriff hike by the regulator following a public hearing early this year. In a statement announcing the increase, Botswana Energy Regulatory Authority (BERA) said electricity tariffs will increase by a uniform 9% across all consumer categories for the 2026/27 financial year.
The Authority stated adjustment will be across all consumer categories including the hard hit households and “the revised tarrifs will take effect from 00:01 hours on August 1, 2026.” However, BERA advised that for large power users such as commercial and industrial customers, maximum demand will be determined using a six months window instead of 12 while maximum demand will now be charged in kVA instead of kW to improve network efficiency and reduce system losses.
The review in electricity prices follows an application made by BPC last December requesting a minimum of 46% tariff increase. “…the adjustments were considered after a public hearing on 10 February, 2026, a comprehensive assessment of the application, stakeholder submissions and consideration of prevailing socio-economic conditions,” BERA said.
The 9% awarded to BPC is lower than what it had requested according to the application it made in December 2026. On December 3, 2025, BERA received an application to adjust electricity tariffs from the power utility requesting tariff adjustments for the financial years 2026/27, 2027/28, 2028/29 and 2029/30.
In the request, BPC had proposed a 46% average increase for the year 2026/27 and a subsidy of P0 million from government as a shareholder. According to BERA, BPC had submitted that it undertook an assessment of its Required Revenue for the financial year 2026/27 in line with the BERA prescribed methodology which translated into P9.039 billion.
The power company had reasoned that the proposed 46% upward average tariff adjustment was amongst others to compensate BPC’s recurring financial losses due to non-cost reflective tariffs, unreliable local generation and heavy reliance on imported power and prolonged non adjustment of tariffs, prior to the 2025/26 financial year.