The government has set electricity
tariffs for the first quarter of 2023 beginning January to March.
The new tariffs announced by the
Chairperson of the Electricity Regulatory Authority-ERA, Dr, Sarah Kanaabi
Wasagali, show that domestic users shall pay 250 Shillings for the first 15 units
purchased in a month known as a lifeline and 808.9 Shillings for units above the
lifeline.
This means there is no reduction in
the lifeline tariff but a 1.5 percent reduction in the above lifeline units. Dr. Wasagali also announced that the
commercial tariffs shall be reduced from 624.6 Shillings in the current last
quarter of 2022 to 637.7 Shillings in the coming first quarter of 2023.
This
signifies a reduction of 2.1 percent. Medium industrial tariffs have also been
reduced by 2.1 percent from 482.3 Shillings in the current quarter to 472.3 for
the first quarter of 2023. Large industrial and extra-large
tariffs have both been reduced to 0.6 percent, the earlier from 388.5 to 386.3
and the latter from 328.5 to 326.6 Shillings.
Electricity tariffs for street
lights have been maintained at 370 Shillings.
Dr. Wasagali says that the tariffs
have been set based on different factors such as the appreciation of the Uganda
Shillings against the dollar from 3810.74 at the time tariffs for the current
fourth quarter of 2022 were determined to 3738.33 by 30th November 2022. She
also says that they expect Electricity demand to grow at an annual rate of
approximately 8.3 percent in 2023.
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Dr. Wasagali also says that the
government shall maintain the domestic cooking tariff which is domestic
electricity consumption between 81 to 150 units per month. Under the cooking
tariff, domestic consumers who use between 81 to 150 consecutively for three
months are charged under the lifeline tariff instead of the above lifeline. This is intended to motivate people to use electricity for cooking instead of
other forms of energy such as charcoal or firewood.
In a bid to increase the usage of
electricity in the country, the government shall also implement the hybrid
customer connection framework where the cost of a pole connection has been
reduced from 720,883 shillings to 470,000 shillings.
The Minister for Energy and Mineral
Development Ruth Nankabirwa says that the government has issued a subsidy of
250,883 shillings to enable more Ugandans to get connected to the power grid.
She also says that the government
working with the Uganda Development Bank shall provide an interest-free credit
line of 270,000 shillings for people who cannot afford a lump-sum payment of
470,000 shillings to acquire a pole. This means that if a person can't pay
470,000 Shillings at once to be connected, they can pay an initial 200,000
Shillings, are connected, and then pay the remaining 270,000 Shillings in
installments. Nankabirwa says that the government shall make a 15 percent
charge on the electricity purchased by such people for them to be able to pay
back the loan in a maximum of eight years.
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The above offer however works for
only people who need one pole to get connected. Those who need more poles shall
be catered for under other projects the government also intends to implement in
2023. One of the projects includes the establishment of 150 mini-grids to
provide clean energy to areas far from the main grid with approximately 5 to
6MWp total installed capacity across the country.
According to the 2018 International Hydro-power
Association report, Uganda has an installed capacity of 743 MW. Uganda expects to
commission the 600 MW Karuma Hydro-power Plant next year and with this connect
the West Nile region to the transmission grid in March 2023.
The Minister says
that Karuma will not only enhance the country's power generation capacity but
also strengthen and improve the stability of the power supply grid. She says this plant shall also offer one of the lowest tariffs since the government funded
15 percent of its construction.
