West Nile receives power for 18 hours
Feb 07, 2006
West Nile gets as much as 18 hours of power supply and more, yet consumers pay less owing to the commissioning of a 1.5MW thermal plant in the region.
By Frank Mugabi
West Nile gets as much as 18 hours of power supply and more, yet consumers pay less owing to the commissioning of a 1.5MW thermal plant in the region.
The plant, which was commissioned in February last year, increased electricity supply to Arua and Nebbi from four hours to 18 hours daily or more.
Power is switched on at 6:00am and switched off at midnight, sometimes running for 24 hours.
However, the region is not yet connected to the national grid at the Owen Falls Dam in Jinja.
The power is managed by West Nile Rural Electrification Company, a subsidiary of Aga Khan’s Industrial Promotion Services (IPS).
The chairman of IPS, Nizar Juma, said the number of clients had increased from 1,100 in 2003 to 1,750 while 800 applications were being processed.
Previously, there were 300 directly-connected customers.
“The cost of energy to certain consumers has gone down. For example National Water and Sewerage Corporation, which used to pay between sh15m and 18m (self generation and power from Uganda Electricity Board) is paying between sh5m and sh6m today,†Nizar said.
The heavy-fuel plant, which cost $1.5m (about sh2.7b) to procure and install, was a government programme aimed at replacing obsolete and expensive small generators, which were used in homes and business premises.
Ends
West Nile gets as much as 18 hours of power supply and more, yet consumers pay less owing to the commissioning of a 1.5MW thermal plant in the region.
The plant, which was commissioned in February last year, increased electricity supply to Arua and Nebbi from four hours to 18 hours daily or more.
Power is switched on at 6:00am and switched off at midnight, sometimes running for 24 hours.
However, the region is not yet connected to the national grid at the Owen Falls Dam in Jinja.
The power is managed by West Nile Rural Electrification Company, a subsidiary of Aga Khan’s Industrial Promotion Services (IPS).
The chairman of IPS, Nizar Juma, said the number of clients had increased from 1,100 in 2003 to 1,750 while 800 applications were being processed.
Previously, there were 300 directly-connected customers.
“The cost of energy to certain consumers has gone down. For example National Water and Sewerage Corporation, which used to pay between sh15m and 18m (self generation and power from Uganda Electricity Board) is paying between sh5m and sh6m today,†Nizar said.
The heavy-fuel plant, which cost $1.5m (about sh2.7b) to procure and install, was a government programme aimed at replacing obsolete and expensive small generators, which were used in homes and business premises.
Ends