The Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) has announced comprehensive short- and long-term interventions to stabilize the national power grid, clear service backlogs, and address critical infrastructure constraints. Driven by a massive 71% growth in its customer base over the past five years—surging from 1.64 million customers in 2021 to approximately 2.8 million today—the state-owned utility is heavily investing in capacity expansion to match the country’s rapid development.
Speaking at a media briefing in Kampala, UEDCL Acting Managing Director, Eng. Joselynne R. Rwabwogo, emphasized that the company is actively prioritizing immediate operational bottlenecks while planning large-scale modernization projects.
“We are focusing on addressing capacity constraints in several priority areas,” Eng. Rwabwogo stated. “In Gayaza, we have initiated work on an additional eight-kilometer electricity line to transfer demand to a substation with available capacity. We are also working closely with UETCL to relieve pressure along Masaka Road.”
To drastically reduce power outages, UEDCL is targeting heavily strained corridors and expanding technical operations:
Recent network reconfigurations in Mubende successfully reduced monthly outages from 12 down to just three. Grid reliability improvements are also live in Seeta, Bukerere, Kawanda, Mbarara, and Bombo, alongside completed underground cable repairs in Entebbe, Namasuba, and Kisubi.
For the year ending July 2026, UEDCL replaced 1,110 distribution transformers, significantly exceeding its target of 853. Crucially, average replacement times dropped from 38 days in June to under 14 days by August.
To counter equipment shortages stemming from local capacity limits under the Buy Uganda, Build Uganda (BUBU) framework, UEDCL is engaging the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) for supplementary sourcing strategies.
Addressing previous delays, UEDCL Chief Commercial and Operations Officer, Isaac Katewanga, confirmed that inherited connection backlogs are being cleared rapidly following the stabilization of meter supplies.
“We have sufficient meter supplies at the moment and are working closely with the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) to accelerate testing and clearance,” said Katewanga. “This is helping us make more meters available for installation and increase the number of customers being connected.”
UEDCL connected approximately 80,000 new customers over the past two months and is on track to scale up operations to 50,000 new connections per month by December. Internal customer support channels and technical teams have also been deeply integrated to provide consumers with clearer, faster updates on fault restorations.
To fully future-proof the network and align with Uganda’s national Tenfold Growth Strategy, UEDCL has mapped out an estimated USD 994 million in infrastructure investment requirements over the next five years. This includes an immediate USD 107 million capital expenditure earmarked for urgent network rehabilitation and expansion through December 2027.
The utility notes that the return of electricity distribution to public management offers a historic opportunity to build local technical expertise and reinvest resources directly into the grid. This transition has already yielded direct economic benefits for citizens, highlighted by a nearly 19% reduction in the end-user electricity tariff, which dropped from approximately UGX 486 to UGX 396 per unit.
