Gov't embarks on campaign to reduce use of charcoal, firewood

Government has embarked on a campaign to reduce the use of charcoal and firewood starting with large consumers like education institutions, hospitals and prisons among others.

The Electricity Regulatory Authority signed a memorandum of understanding with the Uganda Prisons Services aiming at transiting from the use of biomass to clean energy in a project codenamed charcoal to power.

"Our target is that all the eight million households in the country should all enjoy using electricity, the only effort we are putting in supported by government is to ensure that this electricity reaches all parts of the country," said Ziria Tibalwa Waako the chief executive officer ERA.

Waako said although many people complain of high power tariffs this arrangement is so price friendly and a unit will cost not more than Shs 500.

More than 200 prisons across the country will benefit from the pilot project. Prisons is one of the institutions that use a lot of firewood for cooking.

Commissioner of Prisons, Samuel Akena said prisons use over 30,000 tonnes of firewood a year which translates to around  Shs1.6 billion.

"All those tonnes translate into very many trees that are cut down every year for firewood. It is time we change this,"Akena said.

ERA is targeting over 500 institutions and 50,000 households before they roll out the campaign in the whole country.