Electricite Du Cambodge

Program For

the Development of Rural Electrification of Electricite Du Cambodge (EDC) through Department of

Rural Electrification Fund

(REF) 

Address's REF Department:

Building # 205, National Road No. 5, Sangkat Kilometer No. 6, Khan Russeykeo, Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA.

Tel: (855-23) 997 600, Fax: (855-23) 997 601

Website: http:/ / www. ref.gov.kh

1.    The Royal Government of Cambodia's Rural Electrification Policies and Strategies 

The    Royal  Government   of   Cambodia   (RGC), through the Ministry ofIndustry, Mines and Energy (MIME),  which   is   the   expertise   ministry,   has established  a  policy  to  promote  and  encourage development  of  rural  electrification  to  meet  the need of its population and society to use electricity. The goal of RGC is (i) by the year 2020, all the villages  of  the  Kingdom  of  Cambodia  will  have electricity of some type; and (ii) by the year 2030, at least 70 % of households will have access to grid-quality  electricity. 

In order to achieve these targets, RGC issued the Royal Decree NS/RKT/1204/048 dated 4 December 2004 for establishment of the Rural Electrification Fund (REF) to accelerate the development of rural electrification by utilizing the World Bank fund under the Rural Electrification and Transm ission Project and RGC's counterpart fund. Then, on 22 August 2012, RGC issued a new Royal Decree NS/RKT/0812/734 on the amendment of some articles of the old Royal Decree to integrate REF with Electricite du Cambodge (EDC). 

The objectives of REF are (1)- to  promote equitable rural electrification coverage by facilitating the population's access to electricity at affordable price for economic,social and household uses, thus contributing to poverty reduction,  and (2)- to promote and encourage private sector to participate in providing sustainable rural electrification services;in particular the exploitation of and economic application of technically and commercially well proven new and renewable energy technologies.

At present, EDC through REF has three rural electrification development programs consisting of (1)- Program for Power to the Poor (P2P), (2)­ Program for Solar Home System (SHS), and (3)­ Program for Providing Assistance to Develop ElectricityInfrastructure in Rural Areas. 

2.    The Sources of Fund 

The sources of fund for REF are as follows: 

1. Social budget package provided in electricity tariff of EDC and other donations of EDC, if any.
   1. Donations and grants whose sources and terms are acceptable  to the Ministry of

Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).

1. Other sources from RGC. 

3. Program for Rural Electrification Development 

3.  1 Program for Power to the Poor (P2P) 

The  purpose of  this  program  is  to facilitate  the poor households in rural areas to have access to electricity  for  their  houses  from  grid  supply  by providing interest free loan to meet (1)- costs for the connection fees of the electricity supplier, (2)­ costs  for       deposit   to   be   deposited   with   the electricity  supplier,   (3)-  costs  for   purchase  of materials  and  labor  for  the  installation  of  wires from the  connection  point to  its house, and  (4)­ costs for purchase of materials and labor for the installation  of  in-house  wiring.  The  loan  will  be paid through  the  electricity  supplier  who  will be responsible to pay back to REF by collecting from the  Borrower  in  monthly  installments  within  36 months. The Amount of this loan shall not exceed 480,000 Riels per household. All material and equipment installed will remain the property of the electricity supplier during the period; the Borrower has not paid the loan amount in full.  When the Borrower has paid the loan amount in full, all material and equipment installed will become the property of the Borrower. 

3.2  Program for Solar Home System (SHS) 

The purpose of this program is to facilitate the remote rural household, which  may not have access to the electricity network for a long period, access electricity through SHS. EDC through REF will provide a subsidy per SHS to rural households, as assistance to reduce the cost of the SHS and the cost of installation and the purchaser shall pay back the remaining cost, after deducting the subsidy, to REF. REF will install the SHS at the house and the household can choose, the pay back of the remaining cost by any one of the 3 options: option (1)- payoff the remaining cost at the time of installation or option (2)- payment of half-yearly installments in the beginning of each half-year within a period of 4 years or option (3)- monthly instalments within a period of 4 years. After the purchaser has paid the remaining cost in full, the SHS will become the property of the purchaser. 

The SHS materials to be installed at the premises of the purchaser consist of: 

• Solar photovoltaic module with the capacity of 50 Wp: 1unit
• Charge controller (12Vdc): 1unit
  • Battery with the capacity of 55 Ah (12Vdc): 1unit
  • Energy Saving Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) 12V, 7W DC: 2 sets, and
  • Other accessories for the installation of SHS. 

3.3  Program for Providing Assistance to Develop Electricity Infrastructure in Rural Areas 

The purpose of this program is to facilitate the private electricity supplier in rural areas having legal license to access fund for investing on expansion of electricity supply infrastructure to fully cover its authorized distribution area in order to allow all rural households have access to electricity for use. The criterion for implementation of this program is formulated for three different types of area considering the density of population as follows: 

Area No. 1: Area with high density of population having economic efficiency EDC through REF will provide the guarantee on loan borrowed by electricity supplier in rural areas from the local banks for investment on expansion of electricity infrastructure in rural areas to fully cover its authorized distribution area.