OPINION
Editor, the media reported that the State Minister of Energy said while speaking at the launch of Himel products in Kampala, that the Uganda’s electricity demand is increasing by between 10 and 15 percent. It is said that Urbanization, expansion of small industries and the adoption of modern appliances are pushing the consumption higher. Unfortunately, this demand is growing faster than the country’s targets set and investments in new generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure creating pressure on the electricity system and increasing the risks of shortages, high tariffs and unreliability.
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) census report of 2024, the Ugandan government set the key targets for country’s energy sector to expand electricity access, improve supply reliability and increase generation capacity and some of these include, increase the proportion of citizens with access to electricity from 24% in 2020 to 60% by 2025, the number of units of electricity consumed by each Ugandan from 100 in 2020 to 145 by 2025, electricity generation capacity from 1,276.2MW in 2020 to 3,500MW by 2025 and the share of clean energy for cooking to 50% by 2025 among others.
However, these targets have not been met and this has contributed indirectly to the rise of electricity demand, according to UBOS, grid electricity access stood at 25.3% in 2024 and Uganda registered an increase in electricity access of only 1.3% between 2020 and 2024. Further, the per capita electricity consumption, or number of units consumed by each Ugandan, was reported as 80 units as at 2024. This is below the 100 units that each Ugandan reportedly consumed in 2020.
Additionally, according to Uganda’s Energy Transition Plan, as of 2023, access to clean cooking stood at 15%, 92.7% of Ugandans cooked with biomass in 2024 and only 1.1% cooked with electricity, which is below the 50% clean cooking target for 2025. Moreso, according to the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA), Uganda’s installed electricity generation capacity stood at 2,048.1 MW as at quarter 2 of 2024, which is below the 3,500MW target for 2025. All this shows how Uganda is falling short of achieving the energy related targets.
The government should increase investment in decentralized renewable energy solutions that is reliable and affordable for every Ugandan such as solar mini-grids, solar home systems and community-based clean cooking technologies to quickly expand access and ease pressure on the national grid.
These systems can deliver electricity to households and small industries that are not yet connected to the grid, reducing the load on existing generation and transmission infrastructure. By providing reliable off-grid power and cleaner cooking alternatives, Uganda can slow the rapid rise in grid-based electricity demand, improve energy access in rural areas and make progress toward its energy access commitments
By Olive Atuhaire, AFIEGO
Email: atuhaireolivia72.ao@gmail.com
