The Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) has officially applied to the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) for two different licenses that Umeme Ltd held, taking government a step closer to repossessing all the assets it once possessed before it leased them out to private investors 23 years ago.
In a notice, ERA said: “The license applications by UEDCL are with respect to the distribution area currently operated by Umeme Limited, and applicable for the period after the expected natural end of the Umeme Limited distribution and supply of electricity concession, and the respective licenses.”
In December 2022, the ministry of Energy and Mineral Development announced plans to create the Uganda National Electricity Company Limited (UNECL) to take over the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity after the government decided against renewing the concessionary contracts of Eskom and Umeme.
The licenses that UEDCL has applied for are to do with the distribution of electricity and supply of electricity. If granted, the licenses will take effect after the expiry of Umeme’s 20-year concession.
Umeme’s concession expires at the end of March 2025. The company covers nearly 95 per cent of Uganda’s electricity distribution network. The company, which is listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange, says it has invested more than $500 million in Uganda’s distribution network.
Umeme had earlier estimated that Uganda will need an investment capital of $120 million per year until 2031 within its distribution network to meet the growing amount of electricity dispatch.
According to Uganda’s overly ambitious Vision 2040, the country is estimated to generate more than 40,000MW of electricity over different sources of energy such as hydro, nuclear, solar and biomass, just to mention a few.
