New power rate hearings to start

Dec 02, 2010

PUBLIC hearings on Umeme’s proposed 15% tariff rise will start in two week’s time, the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) has announced.

By Ibrahim Kasita

PUBLIC hearings on Umeme’s proposed 15% tariff rise will start in two week’s time, the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) has announced.

“A public hearing has been scheduled for December 14 at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala starting at 8:30am,” the regulator stated yesterday.

The tariff rise, analysts predict, will make Uganda’s economy uncompetitive.

Umeme wants domestic consumers to pay sh462.4 per unit, up from sh385.6

For commercial use, which includes kiosks, power will cost sh455.36, up from the current sh358 per unit. Small and medium industrial consumers will pay sh457, up from sh333 a unit.

Large industrial consumers will pay sh321.14, up from the current sh330 per unit, while the cost of street lighting will be sh461, from sh385 per unit.

The regulator, in yesterday’s statement, stated that the ERA board would meet on December 17 to consider the applications.

“In reaching its decision, the authority will take into account the concerns of the public and justifications of the applicants at the public hearing, as well as the analysis done by the technical staff of the authority,” the statement read.

“After a decision has been taken by the authority, anyone can approach ERA and request for the reasons for the authority’s decisions.”

ERA assured the public that the policy of the Government to keep the end-user retail electricity tariff low was not likely to change soon.

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