1The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Number 7 aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. It also requires governments world over to guarantee households’ access to electricity and clean cooking. The Government of Uganda National Development Plan III (NDPIII), 2020/21 – 2024/25, under the Sustainable Energy Development Program, emphasizes the need for increased access to a Reliable Electricity Supply to consolidate and increase the stock and quality of productive infrastructure. In the same light, Uganda’s Vision 2040 encourages increased adoption and use of clean energy by all Ugandans.
To achieve the aspirations of the SDG, the, NDPIII, and Uganda’s Vision 2040, Uganda’s Electricity Supply Industry players directly responsible for this task are tirelessly working to ensure that by 2040, Ugandans are part of the world population celebrating access to affordable, reliable, and Sustainable Electricity Supply.
Based on the aspirations of the SDG, the NDPIII, and Uganda’s Vision 2040, the Electricity Regulatory Authority; the Regulator of Uganda’s Electricity Supply Industry working under the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has fronted practical actions guided by its Five-Year Strategic Plan (2020/2021-2024/2025) to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern Energy for all Ugandans. The regulator is confident that by 2030, Ugandans will enjoy the fruits of Sustainable Electricity Supply.
World over, governments are working towards ensuring their citizens have access to affordable, adequate and reliable electricity by 2030 and that it is put to good use for the betterment of lives. A study conducted by the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) revealed that 90% of the global population have access to electricity, with the number of people living without electricity reducing to 789 million.
Access to electricity in Uganda now stands at 51%, according to the most recent statistics released by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).There are several ways in which world populations, benefit from being connected to the electricity grid, the common ones being electricity home usage,facilitation of business, including manufacturing. However, there is a significant benefit that $67has not been fully utilized by populations yet; if fully tapped into, would improve lives even more; that is cooking using electricity.
Cooking with electricity is proven to have enormous benefits including, convenient, clean and efficient cooking; decreased deforestation, air pollution, and ill-health. At a national level, it promotes clean and convenient cooking in line with Sustainable Development Goal Number 7. It also provides increased electricity demand.
Though cooking using electricity has several benefits, it is evident that many households in Uganda have not yet embraced it. Research done by the World Health Organization indicates that on the African Continent, South Africa is the only country where 73%of the population primarily uses electricity for cooking.
In Uganda, studies conducted indicate that less than 2% of Ugandan households use electricity for cooking, with the prevalent use of charcoal at 30% and firewood at 64%.Like some electricity consumers in other countries, most Ugandans consider cooking using electricity unaffordable due to what is considered as high electricity tariffs.
However, effective 1st January 2022,the Electricity Regulatory Authority introduced the cooking tariff commonly known as the Fumba Tariff specifically to incentivize Ugandans to cook using electricity. In December 2021, ERA undertook a review of the domestic consumers’ tariff structure and introduced a lower tariff for households deemed to have the financial ability to replace cooking using charcoal with electricity.
ERA introduced the cooking tariff after carefully studying and benchmarking countries where it is implemented. The study revealed that Ugandan households and institutions expensively buy firewood and charcoal from both rural and urban markets to cater to their cooking needs, and still cooking remains a challenge. Based on that finding, a recommendation to Ugandan households and institutions to consider converting the money used to buy firewood and charcoal to buying electricity units under the low cooking tariff to ensure clean, safe, quick and convenient cooking was done.The study further revealed that a tariff of Ush 412.0 per kWh would equate to the monthly cooking costs between charcoal and electric cooking. Therefore, ERA was convinced that a tariff of Ush 412.0 per kWh would be appropriate to incentivize electric cooking among households.
Under the cooking tariff, every domestic customer supplied electricity by Umeme Limited and deemed to have the ability to cook using electricity, pays a standard tariff of 747.5 (January to March 2022) for the first 80 units and from the 81st unit to the 150th unit, (70 electricity units), start enjoying the low cooking tariff of Uganda Shillings 412. The cooking tariff of Uganda Shillings 412 is standard throughout the calendar year. However, a consumer returns to paying the standard tariff of Uganda shillings 747.5whenelectricity consumption goes beyond 150 units. This is intended to avoid abuse of the cooking tariff. ERA believes that with the existance of the cooking tariff, Uganda can follow in the footsteps of South Africa if electricity consumers connected to the national grid embrace it.
To encourage cooking using electricity for commercial purposes, the Electricity Regulatory Authority, with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), is implementing a pilot project called “Charcoal to Power” aimed at encouraging institutions such as schools, hospitals, prisons, hotels, bakeries to prepare meals using electricity instead of biomass. The Charcoal to Power project is piloted at Mulago Hospital at the “Mwanamugimu Clinic“. It will be implemented at a subsidized tariff fit for cooking using electricity when rolled out. Ugandans who will embrace the project will reduce the vast sums of money spent on firewood and charcoal.
To make it affordable for more Ugandans who might not be in a position to cook using electricity as a result of not having the cooking equipment, a plan to have a Memorandum of Understanding among stakeholders such as ERA, MEMD and financial institutions such as banks, SACCOS to ensure that Ugandans in need of cooking equipment can access it at affordable rates and terms is being worked upon. This is now a call to all Ugandans supplied by Umeme Limited who can afford to cook using electricity to embrace the Fumba Tariff for a clean and safe cooking experience.