Energy-savers: The solution to the electricity shortage
Jan 01, 2009
FAITH Katambuka is a shop attendant in Mukono. Like most Ugandans, she has to live with the acute electricity shortage, at the shop and at home.
By Ibrahim Kasita
FAITH Katambuka is a shop attendant in Mukono. Like most Ugandans, she has to live with the acute electricity shortage, at the shop and at home.
“Loadshedding has become part of life because it is now almost four years since it started unleashing its havoc on the econmy,†Katambuka says.
Katambuka is one of the privileged few who have electricity. Less than 8% of Uganda’s 30 million people have access to power.
In addition to the unreliable power supply, Katambuka has had to pay high electricity bills.
Thermal generators
The power crisis began in 2004 when a severe regional drought lowered Lake Victoria’s water levels, leading to decreased power generation and exacerbating the already high power deficit. The country lost about 60% of its electricity supply.
Electricity prices have since skyrocketed due to increased generation costs, a result of expensive fuel imports for thermal power plants installed by the Government to tackle the crisis.
The thermal plants have eliminated daytime loadshedding although they’ve come at a high cost. The Government is forced to provide $70m a year in subsidies to make power affordable.
According to the Electricity Regulatory Authority, without the additional thermal power, Uganda can produce only 135MW, less than the 380MW installed capacity.
Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs)
For Katambuka, the situation improved early last year when the Government introduced free Compact Fluorescent Lamps also known as energy-savers as a short-term measure to reduce the power deficit.
The lamps, which have a minimum lifespan of 6,000 hours, also provide better lighting than ordinary incandescent bulbs.
Using a $1.2m loan from the World Bank, Uganda procured 800,000 of the lamps for free distribution. Between January and May 2007, 550,000 lamps were distributed. Katambuka was one of the beneficiaries.
“I was reluctant to switch to the energy-saving lamps because they were expensive,†she says.
“When government agents brought the three free lamps to my house, little did I know that it would give me the double blessing of also slashing my electricity bill.â€
“Because I mainly use electricity for lighting and few other appliances, I made sure all my other bulbs were replaced with CFLs,†she says.
“My monthly bill came down by almost half, from an average of about sh60,000 to less than sh20,000.â€
Cost saving and awareness
Following the distribution of the lamps and other energy saving measures, 30MW were saved. About 20MW are attributed to the CFLs, which also created energy-saving awareness among consumers.
Today, many Ugandans are abandoning the ordinary bulbs, the bulk of which were collected and disposed of during the distribution of the CFLs. About 100,000 CFLs are sold in Uganda annually. To promote the campaign, taxes on the energy-savers, which included 25% import duty and 18% Value Added Tax, were scrapped, reducing their cost by nearly half.
The Government has also been more vigilant in sensitising the public about reducing consumption to cut energy costs. Plans are also underway to enact energy-efficiency laws.
FAITH Katambuka is a shop attendant in Mukono. Like most Ugandans, she has to live with the acute electricity shortage, at the shop and at home.
“Loadshedding has become part of life because it is now almost four years since it started unleashing its havoc on the econmy,†Katambuka says.
Katambuka is one of the privileged few who have electricity. Less than 8% of Uganda’s 30 million people have access to power.
In addition to the unreliable power supply, Katambuka has had to pay high electricity bills.
Thermal generators
The power crisis began in 2004 when a severe regional drought lowered Lake Victoria’s water levels, leading to decreased power generation and exacerbating the already high power deficit. The country lost about 60% of its electricity supply.
Electricity prices have since skyrocketed due to increased generation costs, a result of expensive fuel imports for thermal power plants installed by the Government to tackle the crisis.
The thermal plants have eliminated daytime loadshedding although they’ve come at a high cost. The Government is forced to provide $70m a year in subsidies to make power affordable.
According to the Electricity Regulatory Authority, without the additional thermal power, Uganda can produce only 135MW, less than the 380MW installed capacity.
Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs)
For Katambuka, the situation improved early last year when the Government introduced free Compact Fluorescent Lamps also known as energy-savers as a short-term measure to reduce the power deficit.
The lamps, which have a minimum lifespan of 6,000 hours, also provide better lighting than ordinary incandescent bulbs.
Using a $1.2m loan from the World Bank, Uganda procured 800,000 of the lamps for free distribution. Between January and May 2007, 550,000 lamps were distributed. Katambuka was one of the beneficiaries.
“I was reluctant to switch to the energy-saving lamps because they were expensive,†she says.
“When government agents brought the three free lamps to my house, little did I know that it would give me the double blessing of also slashing my electricity bill.â€
“Because I mainly use electricity for lighting and few other appliances, I made sure all my other bulbs were replaced with CFLs,†she says.
“My monthly bill came down by almost half, from an average of about sh60,000 to less than sh20,000.â€
Cost saving and awareness
Following the distribution of the lamps and other energy saving measures, 30MW were saved. About 20MW are attributed to the CFLs, which also created energy-saving awareness among consumers.
Today, many Ugandans are abandoning the ordinary bulbs, the bulk of which were collected and disposed of during the distribution of the CFLs. About 100,000 CFLs are sold in Uganda annually. To promote the campaign, taxes on the energy-savers, which included 25% import duty and 18% Value Added Tax, were scrapped, reducing their cost by nearly half.
The Government has also been more vigilant in sensitising the public about reducing consumption to cut energy costs. Plans are also underway to enact energy-efficiency laws.