The Rural Energy Board (REB)was established by The Rural Energy Act, 2005 and its objective is to promote rural socioeconomic development by facilitating extended access to modern energy services for the productive economic uses, health and education, clean water, civil security and domestic applications.

Main functions of the Board are the following.

• To support the provision of modem energy services through projects that are developed by private, public entities, co-operatives and local community organizations.
• To facilitate the provision of technical assistance to qualified developers that contributes to the provision of modem energy service s in rural areas.
• To allocate grants in an efficient and competitive manner, to subsidize the capital costs of projects, taking into consideration a project's social and economic benefits, regional equity in the allocation of funding resources, and the project's sustainability.

The Rural Energy Board consist of the following members:

• a representative from the Ministry responsible for energy;
• a representative from the Ministry of Finance;
• a representative from the Ministry responsible for regional administration and local government;
• a representative of the Private Sector;
• a representative of the Tanzanian Bankers' Association;
• a representative of a civic society;
• a representative of the Development Partners;
• a representative of consumers.