Current Account
The grid earns dollars, mostly not by the wire.
Executive summary
What this brief covers.
Ethiopian Electric Power reported record foreign-currency earnings in FY2025/26, but most of those dollars came from data centres and crypto miners inside Ethiopia. The brief examines what the revenue mix, export pricing and underused regional transmission capacity mean for the GERD export case.
Ethiopian Electric Power via Kana TV and Rio Times; Ethiopian Energy Regulatory Authority via African Business; Engineering News; Capital Ethiopia; Ethiopian News Agency; Birr Metrics; Addis Fortune; IMF; Hydro-Québec; Bank of Canada; Himalaya Times; U.S. International Trade Administration
See the full source notes and data-period qualifications in the PDFKey findings
The evidence behind the headline.
Publication-specific findings from the full brief. Claims and source details can be checked in the PDF below.
Where did the foreign currency come from?
Of EEP's reported $475.5 million in FY2025/26 foreign-currency earnings, $335.5 million, or 71%, came from data centres and crypto miners inside Ethiopia. Cross-border electricity customers contributed about $140 million.
Which customer pays the strongest unit price?
A kilowatt-hour exported to Kenya or Djibouti earned about 6.7 US cents, compared with about 2.9 cents from a data centre and 1.5 to 1.7 cents from the domestic utility.
What limits the export case today?
Kenya's 2,000 MW interconnector carried about 9% of its design throughput. The near-term constraint is contracted demand and access to onward regional markets, not simply generation capacity.
Decision relevance
What to watch next.
The full brief distinguishes observed signals from InfoPlate's interpretation. These are forward tests, not predictions of a completed outcome.
- Kenya's planned step-up to 400 MW and the confirmed contract price
- Export revenue reconciled with volumes, including 362 GWh without published revenue
- EEP's data-centre policy and progress on the proposed Tanzania pilot
Document reader
Read the full brief.
For the best reading experience on a phone, open the brief in a new tab or save a copy.
Preview not loading? Open the PDF directly.
Suggested citation
Tamene, Edosa. “Current Account.” InfoPlate Media and Consulting, October 12, 2026.
Related intelligence
Continue the analysis.
The Grid Is Green. Not Yet Universal.
Ethiopia's COP32 Moment, Renewable-Energy Strength, and the Electricity-Access Gap