The Minister of Energy, Ruth Nankabirwa, has told parliament that Ugandans should expect loadshedding in some parts of the country as government handles the transition period following the end of Umeme’s 20 year contract.
Nankabirwa said power supply disruptions will go o until l April 2025 as the government seeks funding to strengthen the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) who are taking over from Umeme.
The minister was responding to concerns raised by Brenda Nabukenya, the Woman MP for Luwero district about power shortages in her constituency. Nabukenya said Luwero has been receiving electricity for only 2 to 6 hours a day over the past two months. These outages have affected businesses and health facilities among others she stated .
“Luwero has gone nearly one and a half months with unreliable power supply. It comes for just a few hours between 2 and 6 and then goes off again. This is unsustainable. Businesses cannot rely on generators, and health facilities need steady electricity for storing vaccines and essential medicines. Electricity is not free we pay for it so why should we keep demanding a service we are entitled to? Umeme has failed to deliver, and they must ensure we have electricity,” Nabukenya stated.
Minister Nankabirwa acknowledged the challenge and explained that the government’s decision not to invest further in Umeme before the concession expired on February 28, 2025, had led to reduced investment by the company itself.
As a result, response times to power failures whether due to transformer breakdowns, fallen trees, or other faults have slowed.
“We are in the final stages of Umeme’s concession, which officially ended on February 28, 2025. We are currently in the transition period. Since the government chose not to invest more in Umeme, the company also reduced its investments, limiting our ability to respond swiftly to power outages,” Nankabirwa explained.
Nankabirwa ,however , assured Parliament that efforts are underway to address the issue, citing a loan proposal currently before Parliament.
If approved, the funding will help UEDCL prepare for the transition and improve its ability to respond to outages efficiently.
“I promise that by April 1, 2025, this situation will improve significantly if Parliament approves the loan, which includes funds for UEDCL. This will allow the company to respond promptly to power issues without lengthy bureaucratic delays. I ask MPs and the public to bear with us during this temporary inconvenience. In the meantime, I will verify if there are any additional causes of the outages and work towards a resolution,” Nankabirwa assured.
