The Minister for Energy and Mineral Development, Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa has urged Parliament to support more investment in last mile electricity connections to support Uganda’s value addition agenda.
“Electricity is very critical and the limitation on distribution is a common phenomenon in the entire country, where we have the national grid passing through our constituencies but with short-stretch distribution lines,” Nankabirwa said.
Nankabirwa said this in response to concerns raised by Arua City Woman Representative, Hon. Mourine Osoru about distribution of power lines to trading centres, markets and churches in the West Nile sub-region.
“The West Nile Rural Electrification Company (WENRECO) has done a lot but not enough. We request that as the Ministry of Energy carries out mapping, the places that were not captured for electricity access, should be captured,” Osoru said.
She also asked the minister to clarify on the affordability of electricity access in the region.
“West Nile has been finally connected to the national grid but how affordable will power be? Our people are saying that, if we are connected to the national grid and the power is expensive, that means the national grid will remain at the substations,” Osoru noted.
The minister said the electricity tariffs have been reducing overtime as announced every January, which she added will benefit the end-users in the long run.
“I beg for the indulgence of the Members of Parliament and the entire country to bear with us, because tariff is determined by how expensive or how cheaply you have invested in the generation, transmission and distribution. For the last four consecutive years, we have been announcing reduced tariffs,” said Nankabirwa.
She added that the power generated and distributed from the national grid will provide a cheaper alternative for Ugandans compared to that generated from heavy fuel oil (HFO), which she said is dirty and expensive.