BY DAVID MAFABI
KAMPALA – The Africa Institute for Energy Governance (AFIEGO) together with the civil society partners that work on promoting accessible, reliable, and affordable clean energy services in Uganda have called on the Ugandan government to stop the ongoing load shedding.
“Government must work with the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) that Ugandans have paid Shs1.4 trillion over the last 16 years for deemed (unconsumed) power to ensure that the ongoing load shedding ends,” said Mr Dickens Kamugisha, the CEO of AFIEGO.
He added that these independent individual companies must fill the electricity supply gap left by the shutdown of the Isimba dam and AFIEGO, civil society partners want the government to restore reliable power supply without any further delay.
The load shedding, which has for the last over one month affected the Kampala metropolitan area and parts of eastern Uganda started following the temporary shutdown of the Isimba hydropower dam.
Reports indicate that the dam was shut down following a “human error” in which an engineer from Uganda Electricity Generation Co. Ltd (UEGCL) opened the radial outflow instead of inflow gates at the dam, leading to flooding of key equipment.
The reports also indicate that about Shs 5 billion is needed to rectify the error.
And following the Isimba dam shutdown, UMEME, which distributes over 90% of Uganda’s electricity, warned Ugandans to brace for power blackouts.
The August 16, 2022 press release, the Ministry of Energy indicated that the load shedding would go on for three and traders to date are counting losses because of the load shedding.
“It is absurd that the shutdown of Isimba dam has occasioned load shedding. The president has been boasting that Uganda has excess power. Why hasn’t this power been deployed to avoid load shedding?”Mr Kamugisha wondered
He explained that the electricity sector is greatly mismanaged to the level that the Electricity Regulatory Authority has been issuing electricity generation licenses to companies without ensuring that transmission infrastructure is in place, leading to the production of the so-called excess or deemed electricity.
He said it is also notable that for the past 16 years, Ugandans have paid over 13 power companies for deemed energy.
This comes at the time the Ministry of Energy is planning to add only 70MW to the grid from two plants, the Namanve Thermal and Kakira Sugar power plants, and these are expected to partly address the gap left by Isimba and another 60MW is going to be imported from Kenya.
“It is clear that the many electricity generation licenses that are being issued in Uganda aren’t about guaranteeing reliable electricity services for Ugandans, corruption is driving the licensing processes and production of the so-called excess power in Uganda,” said Mr. Kamugisha.
Reports from MEMD indicate that Uganda’s installed electricity generation capacity is 1346.7mw but of these, Uganda’s population of over 40 million consumes up to 800mw during peak hours and 400mw during off-peak hours due to high power prices so Ugandans today suppress their electricity demand.
In the 2022/2023 National Budget Framework Paper, the government indicated that Shs 193 billion is needed to pay for deemed energy this financial year, and further over the last 16 years, the government has paid Shs. 1.4 trillion to 13 firms in deemed energy costs.
Ms. Irene Twongire of Women for Green Economic Movement (WoGEM) says, “Something is amiss with the electricity sector and if nothing is done, Ugandans will continue to lose trillions of shillings while facing power sector crises,”
She added that the Inspector General of Government (IGG) should interest herself in the electricity sector.
She said IGG should investigate possible connivance between ERA and Independent Power Producers and that this connivance could explain why Uganda is generating power that is not evacuated to the grid for consumption by citizens during emergencies such as this.
“Parliament and the Auditor General [AG] should also investigate UEGCL, the company employing incompetent engineers, or whether the flooding of Isimba dam equipment was an act of sabotage. The government has mooted plans to return the management of its dams to Ugandan entities. Some private sector firms may be against this and may have wanted to portray UEGCL as being incompetent,” She added.
Mr. Paul Kato, a youth clean energy champion says, “There is also a need to investigate why our electricity projects including Karuma, Isimba, Bujagali, and Aswa dams among others which cost taxpayers trillions of shillings were awarded to companies through single sourcing and are riddled with corruption scandals,”.
He explained that single sourcing and corruption could explain why Bujagali produces some of the most expensive power in the world.
“Both Isimba and Karuma dams continue to suffer from technical defects or other challenges while Aswa dam remains idle five years after its commissioning. The electricity sector problems go beyond the Isimba dam shutdown and must be investigated to find a lasting solution.”
Mr. Patrick Edema, a youth clean energy champion, says, “Government also needs to change its electricity sector investment strategy. Instead of paying companies to generate excess power, the government should support communities to access off-grid solar home systems which can be deployed for production purposes as well.”Ends
