How can the performance of the Electricity Sub-sector be enhanced?
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Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Budget Monitoring and Accountability Unit
Abstract
Electricity remains critical for Uganda to attain the growth trajectory and socio-economic transformation of her fast growing population. However, the overall rate of access to electricity in Uganda remains low (about 19% overall and about 8% in rural areas), while just over 3.2% of the total population has access to modern cooking fuels. The limited access to and cost of electricity has affected delivery of social services, constrained the development of small-scale industrial and commercial enterprises and disillusioned larger-scale industrial and commercial investment in the country.
The Government of Uganda (GoU) has laid out a target of increasing access to electricity to 80% by 2040 under Vision 2040. The strategic actions listed in the second National Development Plan (NDP II) are to: (I) improve the power generation capacity through commissioning of an additional 3500MW of power generating capacity by 2015;(ii) expand the power grid and improve the electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure through carrying out additional investments in the transmission and distribution networks of the country; and (iii) increasing access and usage of electricity by investing in least cost power generation, promotion of renewable energy and energy efficiency in addition to the associated transmission and distribution infrastructure.
Despite Government’s increased funding to the electricity sub-sector, the targets arising out of the above strategic actions in the NDP II have not been met. This is due to a combination several factors that have negatively impacted on the performance of the sector. These factors are discussed in this policy brief and several recommendations put forward.