Musenero explains power blackouts

Musenero and her team briefed the press. PHOTO UGANDA MEDIA CENTRE Kampala, Uganda | URN | The minister of energy has apologized to electricity consumers for weeks of widespread electricity outages across Kampala and other parts of the country. Addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre on Wednesday, Dr Monica Musenero Masanza partly blamed the crisis on the failure to adequately communicate to consumers about the impending disconnections meant to repair the distribution network.

She acknowledged that the intermittent blackouts have disrupted households, businesses, industries and public institutions. Musenero maintained that the outages are largely the result of ongoing investments to modernise Uganda’s ageing electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure rather than a shortage of electricity generation. Before the intensification of the outages, we made an effort to communicate, but from the response it is clear that we did not do it well.

For that, on behalf of the sector, I apologise,” Musenero said. She explained that Uganda currently generates enough electricity to meet demand, but the country’s transmission and distribution infrastructure has struggled to keep pace with rapid growth in electricity consumption, industrial expansion and new customer connections. Providing an overview of the sector’s performance, the Managing Director of the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL), Eng.

Jocelyne Rwabwogo Rwakakooko, said Uganda now has approximately 2.7 million electricity customers, with national electricity access standing at 62 percent. She added that more than 76,000 new customers have been connected to the national grid since January this year alone, while over 500,000 applicants are still awaiting electricity connections. “The growing customer base, coupled with increased industrial activity and the government’s drive to expand electricity access, has placed unprecedented pressure on substations, transformers and transmission lines, many of which were not originally designed to handle today’s demand,” Eng.

Against this backdrop, the ministry identified four major factors behind the ongoing outages. Foremost among them is the Kampala Metropolitan Transmission System Improvement Project, funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), alongside sections of…