National Energy Policy, 2015 (NEP, 2015).

This National Energy Policy is a nationwide sectoral document aiming at (i) guiding sustainable development and utilization of energy resources to ensure optimal benefits to Tanzanians and contribute towards the transformation of the national economy; (ii) enhancing the provision of adequate, reliable, and affordable modern energy services to Tanzanians; (iii) providing comprehensive legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks for petroleum, electricity, renewable energies, energy efficiency to achieve the Vision of a vibrant Energy Sector that contributes significantly to economic growth and improved quality of life of Tanzanians. The policy focuses on the following specific areas (i) electricity generation, transmission, distribution, interconnection, power trading, and rural electrification; (ii) petroleum and gas upstream, midstream, and downstream activities; (iii) renewable energy, energy conservation, and energy efficiency including Feed-in-tariff; and (iv) cross-cutting issues including subsidies, institutional, legal, regulatory as well as monitoring and evaluation frameworks. The Policy includes some cross-cutting issues, such as (i) ensure transparency and accountability in the development of the sector; (ii) optimize benefits accruing from Tanzania’s participation in regional and international energy projects; (iii) mainstream gender and HIV and AIDS issues in the Energy Sector.
To reduce rural poverty, the document suggests accelerating rural electrification to foster socioeconomic transformations by (i) facilitating private sector participation including community groups and financial institutions in the provision of modern energy services; (ii) facilitating local capacity building for manufacture, installation, maintenance, and operation of rural energy systems; and (iii) strengthening institutional capacity for effective coordination, administration, implementation and monitoring of rural energy projects.
To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the Policy envisages a number of interventions that can be undertaken in the sector, such as (i) promote renewable energy sources and sustainable use of biomass for power generation; (ii) establish frameworks for renewable energy integration into the national and isolated grids; (iii) promote sustainable biofuel production and usage; (iv) ensure timely investment in construction, rehabilitation, and expansion of the transmission and distribution infrastructure; (v) ensure reduction of power losses in transmission and distribution networks; (vi) facilitate the establishment of standards and code of practice for energy management; (vii) enhance fuel switch from wood fuel to modern energy; (viii) ensure the pace of resource exploration and exploitation is carefully planned in line with the capacity to manage the petroleum resources; (ix) ensure safety and security of petroleum infrastructure; (x) enforce environmental, health and safety standards and laws governing the energy sector; (xi) ensure that contractors in the energy sector establish a decommissioning fund for environmental restoration.
As for Governance, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM) is responsible for provision of overall leadership, oversight guidance and policy directions in the implementation of this Policy. MEM shall continue to facilitate improvement of investment environment to promote and support private sector participation in the Energy Sector for accelerated socio-economic transformation of the country.