Electricity distribution company, Umeme has said demand for electricity has increased in the past one year due to the deliberate industrialization policy by government.
Speaking during their Annual General Meeting on Thursday at Serena hotel in Kampala, Umeme board chairman, Patrick Bitature said as the general demand for electricity increased by 9.1% the same happened to industrial demand.
“Electricity sales increased by 9.1% to 3011gigawatts in 2018 compared to 2760gigawatts in 2017 whereas the industrial demand grew at an average of 12%,”Bitature said.
He however attributed the growth in industrial demand to the deliberate policy by government to emphasize industrialization through creation of industrial parks and motivation of investors both locally and foreign.
“Because locals and foreigners are encouraged to invest in industries, we have seen many factories coming up and these have increased the demand for electricity,” the Umeme board chairman said.
Government has of recent revived or created new industrial parks in various parts of the country as one of its efforts to encourage industrialization.
Several of these parks including Mbale, Namanve, Buikwe, Bweyogerere, Kapeeka and Mbalala among others have been activated.
President Museveni has in past two years officiated at the opening of over 100 new factories in various parts of the country.
The country’s 22 industrial parks are expected to consume 1000MW of electricity by 2027 and according to government, the increase in the number of industries will increase demand for power and eventually power tariffs will drastically go down.
Umeme officials said power tariffs are still high because the number of people consuming electricity is still low but said it will go down if more customers are connected.
Umeme to invest $450M
Officials from the power distribution company said they will invest $450 million over the next six years but noted priority will be on expansion of the distribution network, improve quality and reliability of supply and access to electricity.
They said they hope to connect two million premises to the grid between 2019 and 2027.
Negotiations for concession renewal on
The Umeme board chairman told journalists that negotiations for the renewal of their concession are still ongoing but was hopeful they would get the best out of them.
“The government side is led by the Minister for energy and the Attorney General and negotiations are going on well. We agreed to reduce on our 20% return on investments and we hope by December, the concession will be signed,” Patrick Bitature said.
The current 20 year concession that Umeme signed with the Uganda government has six years left before its expiry.