Kampala — FIFTY more megawatts of power will be added to the national grid after the government cleared Aggreko thermal power company to generate more electricity by October.

Daily Monitor has learnt that following the delayed installation of a 50MW thermal plant originally planned at Mutundwe hill by a Norwegian firm- Jacobsen Electro AS and dragging talks to procure another 50MW from Kenya, the government, under pressure to provide power, has opted to buy another 50MW from Aggreko.

Aggreko is a Middle-East based firm that installed a 50 MW thermal plant at Lugogo a year ago.

Original plans to install another 50MW by Jacobsen now lie in limbo following the IGG's recommendation to cancel the license awarded to Jacobsen over what she called an irregular award and flouting of the procurement and electricity laws of Uganda.

She also recommended that two senior officials in the Electricity Regulatory Authority and another from the Energy Ministry be sacked.

Energy and Mineral Development Minister Daudi Migereko confirmed the development but declined to give details.

"Yes it is true," he told this reporter on phone.

A senior official in the energy sector said, "The deal was sealed and Aggreko should be working on installing the gigantic generators," he said.

An official from the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited, said on condition of anonymity said that the 50 MW could reduce load shedding by a half.

"We took the decision to increase load shedding from 6 to 12 hours because we had lost hydro generation from 185 MW to 135 MW and since we are getting back the lost 50 MW, we should return to the January 2006 load shedding schedule," the official said.

However, the added megawatts will come at an additional cost to the already expensive power.

"Aggreko will supply the power at about $34cents (Shs629) per kilowatt hour so Ugandans should expect a tariff increase whether the government subsidises the power or not," the official said.