Power sector reforms in Uganda: status and achievements

As part of its wider public enterprises reform and divestiture program, the government of Uganda developed and adopted the power sector restructuring and privatisation strategy. The sector reforms, apart from following the worldwide trend in energy sector reforms, were driven by the need for increased investments (especially private investments) in the sector and increased access to modern forms of energy. This was designed to be achieved through the privatisation of the existing power infrastructure and provision of an enabling environment for additional private sector investments in the sector. Uganda has made significant progress in the reform process, setting itself well ahead of the reform processes in other countries in the region. A new law liberalising the sector was enacted, an independent regulator for the electricity industry put place, the vertically integrated electricity monopoly the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB) unbundled and privatisation of the generation and distribution functions completed. The reform process was driven by the need to meet certain objectives as set out in the sectors' reform strategy. This article reviews the reforms undertaken to-date and the achievements registered in the process.