Distributor, Uganda Electricity Distribution Company has said it intends to invest at least shs849 billion in the next three years as it takes over of the country’s power distribution network after the expiry of Umeme’s concession early next year.
Government recently opted not to renew Umeme’s concession after its expiry in March next year.
On Tuesday, the UEDCL officials led by their Managing Director, Paul Mwesigwa made their case for the take over of the Umeme concession during a public hearing organized by Electricity Regulatory Authority(ERA) at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.
“Since 2014, we have been able to grow customers in the areas we serve from 5640 to 213, 336 as of September 2024 but we have also been able to expand from four districts to 102. Currently, our network route length is at 22703km. Therefore, our vision is to be a reliable customer focused, safety oriented national electricity distributor by growing a reliable network,” Mwesigwa told the regulator.
Laying out their strategy, UEDCL said they are planning to invest at least shs849 billion during the first three years of their concession, and among the tangible results will be an addition of at least 300,000 new customers to the network annually.
“We currently have 65 offices in the areas we operate but we hope to increase them to 100 allover the country by adding those of Umeme and also do rationalization. We plan to have 3175 staff allover the country but also seek to reduce the energy loss to 15.2% by 2027 and a 99.76% revenue collection rate,” Mwesigwa told the public hearing.
In terms of reliability, he said they hope to achieve 95% .
Riding on past success
The UEDCL Managing Director said if given the concession, they hope to achieve these ambitious targets by riding on their past success.
On the ability to have a 99.76% revenue collection rate, Mwesigwa said the past is there to prove they are capable.
“In the areas where we are currently operating, we have seen revenue grow from shs36.1 billion in 2014 to shs100 billion in 2024. By time we started energy loss was 28% in 2017 but we have reduced it to 18.1% as of 2024 and we shall be improving more and more. Our cash collection has been achieved at 100%. We have a formula of employing the right technology, explain importance to community and staff and we collect the cash,” he said.
Officials from UEDCL said on taking over the Umeme concession, they will embark on converting all post-paid electricity metres to prepaid, invest in replacing aged poles; both wooden and metallic as well as well as maintaining a number of sub-stations.
According to the Electricity Regulatory Authority Executive Director, Ziria Tibalwa Waako said having been able to hear from UEDCL, they will sit as the regulator before coming up with a decision on the matter.
“We shall look into their arguments for distributing electricity by transporting it from the main transmission sub stations to different load centres and supply to the last mile person,”Ziria said.
She said that the total amount of money that the government will pay out to Umeme to recoup its investments will be determined on March 31, 2025.
“We have gone through the process in a collaborative manner with UEDCL, the asset owner, and Umeme, the implementer, and we have done a lot of review, analysis, and verification to be able to advise the Office of the Auditor General, who is mandated to determine the buyout amount.”
