Cambodia's power supply facilities were heavily damaged by war. Cambodia has started its process of rehabilitation under support from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and many individual countries.  Electricity accounts for a small part of the energy market today, of which over 80% is biomass in the form of fuelwood or charcoal.  But strong growth is predicted as power plays a key role in the country's development.

Cambodia’s Power System

Accurate industry data is not available, but it is estimated that the country's public and private grid systems have a total installed generating capacity of around 200MW, of which about 65% is in Phnom Penh.  However this figure does not include the large number of stand-by generators installed by most medium to large businesses.  Nor does it count the hundreds of small diesel generators operated by private battery charging services in mainly rural areas.  Power is also imported across the border from Thailand using seven separate privately owned medium voltage transmission lines with a total capacity of around 16MW.  And power is imported from Vietnam using three government owned lines with a total capacity of 3.4MW.  

So the total installed capacity may well be above 300MW, however this is still a tiny amount when compared to other countries in the region, even on a per-capita basis.  At present, the electricity supply in Cambodia is fragmented into 24 isolated power systems centred in provincial towns and cities. All are fully reliant on diesel power stations, except for two small hydropower stations. The supply requirements are projected to increase by an average 12.1% per year, and the peak load is expected to reach 1,216 MW in 2020.

Access in Rural Areas

Only around 15% of the population has continuous access to electricity via a reliable public grid, and most of this group is in Phnom Penh.  For the rural population less than 9% have access to 'grid-quality' power, although an increasing number have access to either private part-time mini-grids or battery charging services.  It has been estimated that there are 600 to 1000 Rural Electricity Enterprises supplying various power services in rural areas to around 60,000 households (SME Cambodia, June 2003).  The following table indicates the types of electricity supply in Cambodia (World Bank, 2001).

*      In 85% of the villages, car batteries are the most common sources of electricity. Almost 55% of households use a battery and about 32% of the households have a B/W TV set.

**     Use dry cell batteries or no electricity.

The Price of Power

The electricity prices in Cambodia are the highest in the region, and some of the highest in the world, due partly to the large use of old small generators, reliance on fully imported diesel fuel, and large losses in low quality medium voltage distribution systems. According to data from 2000, the average tariff is about 14.6 US Cents / kWh in Phnom Penh, and 25 to 50 US cents / kWh in rural areas.

Government Energy Institutions

The three main government institutions responsible for energy in Cambodia are listed here, and more information can be found on this website and also at the official government website (www.cambodia.gov.kh):

•     Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) – responsible for energy planning, policy and management 
   

•     Electricity Authority of Cambodia (EAC) – responsible for regulating the electricity industry  (www.eac.gov.kh); and
   

•    Electricity du Cambodge (EdC) – government owned power utility responsible for the generation, transmission and distribution of power in nine areas of the country.

Power Plans

The Royal Government of Cambodia have established a Power Sector Strategy for the period 1999 to 2016.  This document is now due for review, but the plans it suggests indicate the general direction of the government’s plans that can be summarised as follows:

§         Extra generation in Phnom Penh;

§         Extra generation for Siem Reap;

§         New diesel generation in 8 regional centers;

§         More power imported from Vietnam;

§         More power imported from Thailand;

§         Establish a high voltage transmission ‘backbone’ across the country;

§         Connection to the planned ASEAN Grid;

§         Gas-fired Generation at Sihanoukville; and

§          5 large Hydro projects.

 This document can be downloaded from the Reports + Papers section of this website.