Power blackouts to continue
Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa has revealed the real reason behind the frequent power shutdowns across the country, saying they are “consequential shutdowns” that will continue until Uganda’s entire power distribution system is fully upgraded.
Speaking in Kampala on Monday, Nankabirwa said the blackouts are unavoidable as engineers from the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) race to replace old transformers and repair overstretched substations that have been running beyond capacity for years.
“We can’t run away from this. We need stable power, and that means working on transformers that were mounted in 1994 older than 90% of the people here,” Nankabirwa said.
She explained that every time UEDCL switches off power in an area, it is part of a planned refurbishment exercise, not negligence.
“You can’t repair a transformer when it’s live. You have to switch off people temporarily,” she said, describing the outages as “painful but necessary surgery.”
Since taking over power distribution from Umeme in April, UEDCL has replaced 206 faulty transformers, expanded several substations, and connected 140,000 new customers, pushing its national customer base to 2.4 million.
The minister bragged that UEDCL even collected 102% in one month, recovering debts left behind by Umeme.
“That’s how well they are performing. Everyone must move to prepaid, it saves you and saves government,” she insisted.
Among the major upgrades, Kakiri substation was doubled from 10MW to 20MW, Kabale expanded from 2.5MW to 5MW, and Masaka boosted from 5MW to 7MW.
Power blackouts to continue
Despite these improvements, the minister said the old system still struggles under heavy load and frequent vandalism.
“You move four steps ahead and one or two steps back because of vandalism,” she said.
Areas like Namugongo, Namungona, Mutule, and Kawanda are among the worst affected, with substations overloaded as new housing projects, schools, and industries connect to the grid.
“It’s a serious problem, but a good one. It means people are using power” she joked.
To ease the pressure, the government has secured land for two new substations at Majidye and Kawempe, expected to stabilize power for Kawempe Hospital, Uganda Police, and the Gayaza–Kira corridor.
Nankabirwa said most new equipment is being locally sourced under the Buy Uganda, Build Uganda (BUBU) policy, though some suppliers struggle to meet demand.
“We’re patient with them because the President wants us to support local industries,” she added.
She called for patience, reminding Ugandans that the electricity sector is still recovering from 20 years of Umeme’s concession.
“You can’t fix in three months what took 20 years to spoil. Be patient with us, we’re working within the budget, and the results will show soon.” she added
