Parliament to set tough penalty for stealing electricity

Parliament is set to review the electricity law, which seeks to set stiff penalties for stealing electricity, electrical equipment and vandalism of facilities.

The country has suffered severe load-shedding whenever there is vandalism of key electrical installations, among them the high voltage towers. The amendments seek to introduce stiff penalties for the vice.

Ruth Nankabirwa, the Minister for Energy and Mineral Development, on Thursday tabled the Electricity Amendment Bill, 2022. The Bill now goes to the committee on natural resources to produce a report on government’s proposals to bring changes in the management and regulation of the electricity sector.

Nankabirwa explained that whenever vandals bring down one high voltage tower, it affects the one in front of it and the one behind it, because they are stringed together.

“Vandalism stifl es our move to take power to the last mile consumer. The power infrastructure goes through the bush; it is hard to guard each tower or transformer. The vandals remove towers and transformers and sell them as scrap. We need to regulate scrap dealing,” Nankabirwa said.

She added that those vandalising electrical facilities were selling them to scrap dealers in South Sudan and Kenya.

“Recently, Nairobi was in darkness for two days because vandals brought down towers to sell them for scrap. We have to be strict on scrap dealers in the region,” Nankabirwa said.

The law seeks to improve the process of generation, transmission, distribution, purchase and consumption of electricity. The current laws governing the sector are rather outdated and rigid, stiffling increased investment in the sector.

The current law has many inconsistencies which impede the power sector. The proposals seek to streamline operations in the power sector and introduce flexibility in implementation of laws.

The Bill seeks to increase funds allocated to the Electricity Regulatory Authority from 0.3% to 0.7% of the revenue received from electrical energy to improve its regulation of the sector.

It also seeks to empower the energy minister to prescribe the procedure or transfer of generation assets to the government.

It seeks to prescribe circumstances under which a holder of a generation licence or transmission licence may supply electricity to persons other than a bulk supplier — the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd.

It seeks to provide for the membership and funding of the Electricity Disputes Tribunal.

Nankabirwa said in Uganda, access to the national electricity grid stand at 19%, while off-grid connections, mainly solar power, stand at 38%. She said the current levels of electricity connectivity access is 57%.

She said the low level of electricity connectivity is a major barrier for economic development and poverty reduction, mostly in remote areas from the national grid.

The minister said the East Africa power pool has 11 countries in the region that includes Egypt and DR Congo.

She said the aim of the pool is to increase cooperation in the electricity sector to ensure increased production, lower costs and increased access.

Nankabirwa noted that reliable power supply is critical for industrialisation and job creation. Uganda’s electricity per capita consumption is recorded at 215-kilowatt hour (kWh) compared to that of Africa at 556kWh and the world at 2,915kWh.