Liberia is stepping up its drive to expand electricity access, attract private investment and reduce power costs, with Finance and Development Planning Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan using the 81st United Nations General Assembly to outline a target of reaching 75 percent electricity access by 2029-2030.

The Minister spoke on a panel, "Powering West Africa's Growth: U.S. Support for Regional Energy Abundance," on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Ngafuan said Liberia's electricity strategy is built around expanding access, strengthening the power system and creating conditions for private investors to participate at scale.

"We want electricity to power our industries," Ngafuan said. "We cannot accept delay on our part, and so far, we are moving according to our timeline."

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The 75 percent target represents an expansion from Liberia's current electricity access level, which Ngafuan placed at nearly 40 percent.

Ngafuan said LEC connected approximately 200,000 households last year and is expected to connect another 150,000 this year.

But he cautioned that expanding connections alone will not be sufficient if Liberia cannot make the electricity system financially sustainable.

"We have to protect the power," he said. "I am told that every dollar, every dollar that we generate and put through the system, we are losing more than 50 cents."

The Government, he said, is investing in smart technologies, including smart meters, to improve monitoring, reduce commercial losses, strengthen revenue collection and improve LEC's financial position.

Ngafuan said reducing losses is critical to avoiding what he called a "utility debt spiral," in which persistent weaknesses in the electricity provider's finances require repeated government intervention.

"If the energy sector is our priority, it should be our priority through our budget, what we dedicate to it," he said.

"We are not just talking about MCC," Ngafuan said. "In our budget, this current budget, 2026, one of the areas that is benefiting from a good chunk of allocation is energy."

He said Liberia's strategy brings together government resources, development partners and private capital, including the MCC, World Bank, African Development Bank and other international financial institutions.

"I don't see conflict. I see completeness," Ngafuan said. "What we are doing is including everyone so that what the MCC does complements, does not detract or contradict what the World Bank tends to do."

Jason Small, VP for Compact Operations at MCC, said investors need three conditions before committing capital to the power sector: reliability, predictability and confidence.

"They want to know that they hook up to power, that it becomes what the price is, that it can be counted on and that it can serve their needs," Small said.

He said MCC combines infrastructure investment with policy and institutional reforms. Pointing to Sierra Leone, Small said a similar model could apply to Liberia, matching MCC investment with private-sector capital.

Ngafuan said high electricity costs remain a concern for major mining operators and other businesses.

"One of the things they ought to complain about is the huge cost of power," he said.

He argued that more affordable electricity through LEC could reduce operating costs, improve profitability and increase government tax revenues.

"That's going to slow the cost down materially," Ngafuan said. "And when the cost comes down materially, they're more profitable. For us, revenue generation--the more profit, the more the tax, the more we get, the more we share."

Ngafuan also emphasized Liberia's regional energy strategy. The country is benefiting from the Côte d'Ivoire-Liberia-Sierra Leone-Guinea transmission line and the West Africa Power Pool, while relying on regional imports when domestic generation is insufficient, particularly during the dry season.

"In our dry season, one of the things that helps us is to be able to get power from our regional neighbors," he said. "We are building our capacity so that we too can be able to give."

"We are looking at things now from a Liberian perspective, but a regional perspective," he added.

Small said MCC is preparing a five-year regional compact with Côte d'Ivoire aimed partly at strengthening its role as a regional power exporter and supporting West Africa's first day-ahead electricity market.

Ngafuan said Liberia is also engaging institutions including the European Investment Bank and other African and international financial institutions on financing major energy projects, including the proposed St. Paul River II project.

"At best, one donor cannot give us all the resources," he said. "And we are not only depending on donor resources."

The energy agenda also forms part of Liberia's participation in the African Development Bank-backed Mission 300 initiative. Ngafuan said Liberia's national energy compact reflects the Government's ambition to move electricity access toward 75 percent by the end of the decade.

"Development is hard," he said. "It comes with time, sweat and thinking."

"The challenge we face is that our people are impatient. They want power and they want it now," Ngafuan said.

He maintained that the Government must balance demand for immediate access with the work required to build an electricity system capable of supporting Liberia's economic ambitions.