It is just a matter of time before all Ugandans enjoy clean energy

An analysis of Uganda’s electricity sector today indicates that it has registered remarkable achievements, making it one of the most viable on the African Continent. This is attributed to the reforms made in the sector, which ushered in a good regulatory environment.
In 1997, the government of Uganda initiated reforms in the electricity sector, aimed at creating its financial viability; providing reliable power to consumers at reasonable prices; seizing power export opportunities and boosting Uganda’s socio-economic development.
The reforms saw the disbandment of the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) and the establishment of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) in 2000, and other companies such as Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited, Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited, and Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited, in accordance with the Electricity Act, 1999. The Act mandated ERA to regulate the generation, transmission, distribution, sale, export and import of electrical energy in Uganda.
Entrusted with this mandate, ERA, focused on eliminating all the draw backs that had crippled the industry, which was then characterised by acute load-shedding, low access to electricity and high energy losses among, other challenges.
With the support of the government and development partners, efficiency and growth of the electricity sector was boosted, registering key achievements worth celebrating. As the sector regulator, ERA formulated subsidiary regulations such as the Electricity (Quality of Service Code) Regulations 2003, the Electricity (Safety Code) Regulations 2003, among other regulations that created remarkable improvement in efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery.
The electricity generation capacity now stands at 929.6MW up from 394.9MW in 2000 and it is projected to be at 1,800MW in the next two years. This implies that with the new and many government programmes aimed at increasing access to electricity, the available electricity will be enough for all Ugandans and even have surplus for export. The sector now boasts of the presence of eight electricity distribution companies, operating in various regions of the country, which have increased electricity access from 7 per cent in 2000 to 20 per cent in 2017. The companies include; Umeme Limited, WENRECo, UEDCL, BECS, KRECS, PACMECS, KIL; and KIS. The number of electricity users also increased from 405,459 in 2000 to 1,019,453 customers in 2017. The efficiency of the distribution sector now stands at 83 per cent compared to 5 per cent in 2000.
Remarkable efforts have also been directed towards facilitation of improvement of the distribution and transmission networks. There has been a reduction in the energy loss levels, with Umeme, recording an energy loss reduction from 26.1 per cent at the beginning of its concession in 2005 to 17.5 per cent in June 2017 and more reduction is expected.
With the existence of the revised Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff-Phase 3 guidelines, developed by ERA, project developers, investors and other key institutional stakeholders are now guided on the crucial components and operational structure of renewable energy in Uganda and investment can now be done at ease.
The establishment of a predictable and transparent tariff regime by ERA led to financial viability of the electricity sector. The quarterly tariff adjustment mechanism, which provides for adjustment of tariffs on a quarterly basis for changes in exogenous factors such as foreign exchange rate, inflation and international fuel prices enabled the industry achieve cost-effective end-user electricity tariffs. This has helped the sector to increase the financial sustainability, reduced the burden of subsidies on government, mitigated payment delays by the transmission company, and have encouraged private sector investments in Uganda’s electricity sector. The time for getting a licence by a developer, who wants to invest in the sector was also reduced from six to three months.
To crown it all, in June 2016, Uganda was ranked third in Africa for the success of the GETFiT programme by “Fieldstone Africa Renewables” and ranked third in Africa for promotion of policies for clean energy investment by “Bloomberg New Energy Finance”-BNEF-Nov-2015. The country was also recognised for advancing access to sustainable energy for all by “United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs” (UN-DESA)—Sept-2015.
The big question remains; with all the achievements in the sector, will all Ugandans have access to electricity in the shortest time possible and at a cheaper cost? It is evident that government embarked on improving access to electricity by initiating the connection of sub-counties to the national grid, the introduction of the Uganda grid-based Output Based Aid (OBA) project, and all the rural electrification programmes aimed at increasing access to electricity, which will eventually bring down electricity tariffs. It is just a matter of time before all Ugandans enjoy clean energy but more so, economic development.

Ms Nakibuuka is a consumer affairs assistant at Electricity Regulatory Authority.