The Minister for Energy and Mineral Development, Hon Ruth Nankabirwa has revealed that persistent vandalism and the reduced capital investments during UMEME’s concession transition period as the causes affecting power supply across the country.
“Over the past years, our annual energy demand has grown at an average rate of 10% driven largely by increased industrial consumption and the growing number of new customer connections.
“This growth coincided with the UMEME concession transition period in which capital investments in the distribution network were constrained due to the short capital mobilization and investment recovery period” Nankabirwa said.
The minister said the growth created a period of reduced capital investments within the distribution network, which has affected the reliability and quality of power supply.
Ms Nankabirwa made the remarks while addressing journalists on the status of Electricity Distribution Services and the steps being undertaken to ensure that the ministry delivers reliable service across the country at the Uganda Media Centre on Tuesday in Kampala.
“I must also address a persistent challenge of vandalism, in areas such as Kololo, Mukono, Kayunga, Masaka, Mpigi, Luwero, Nakasongola, Mityana, Mubende, and Mbarara. Acts of vandalism have continued to undermine progress, causing unnecessary outages for our communities” she said.
Minister Nankabirwa noted that the Ministry together with its agencies is working with the relevant security organs to combat the vice.
Nankabirwa further urged Ugandans to embrace the recently launched Weterezeeee Campaign to address power theft and unsafe connections.
“This campaign provides electricity users with direct supply, bypassed, or tampered meters the opportunity to voluntarily regularize their connections without penalties. To date, over 22,937 Ugandans have responded” she said.
Additionally, Nankabirwa reassured citizens that Government remains fully committed to investing in the distribution and transmission sectors to improve reliability of power supply.
“UEDCL has made critical upgrades at Kakiri, where the substation was expanded from 10MW to 20MW. At Kabale, where the substation was expanded from 2.5MW to 5MW”
She added, “UEDCL made critical upgrades at Masaka Central substation where the substation was expanded from 5MW to 7MW, replaced 206 faulty transformers and connected 140,000 new customers in total to date”.
The minister noted that further to the above, UEDCL has secured land for new substations at Magyigye and Kawempe, and has drawn up plans to refurbish nine substations, “Inject 518 new transformers, and expand 40 medium-voltage lines geared towards improving reliability of power supply by the close of 2025”.
