Ibrahim Kasita
12 November 2009
Kampala — Energy minister Hilary Onek and his permanent secretary, Fred Kabagambe-Kaliisa, have agreed to put away their disagreements and resolve the problems facing the electricity industry.
At a joint press conference held yesterday at the Media Centre, the two top energy officials promised to "work together" to ensure increased access to reliable and affordable electricity.
"I want to assure Ugandans that the energy ministry is not in a crisis as portrayed by the media," Onek said.
"We are one team working together to provide affordable power and increase electricity coverage from the current 11% to 21% in the medium term."
The minister attributed the row with his permanent secretary to varying views and opinions, calling it an "internal issue".
"We have agreed that all of us in the ministry are going to focus on ensuring that there is increased power generation at an affordable price that will make our industries competitive."
Kaliisa, on his part, said the ministry's priorities are to increase electricity generation capacity and the development of the transmission network.
"The Ministry of Energy is highly result-oriented and we have programmes to implement like promoting the efficient utilisation of energy and reduction of power losses," he said.
He added that they want to increase access to modern energy services through rural electrification and renewable energy. Other priorities, he said, are the promotion and monitoring of petroleum exploration, the promotion of mineral investment and the streamlining of petroleum supply and distribution.
Dr. Frank Ssebbowa, the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) chief, defended the tariff setting method.
"When we are setting the tariffs, we involve all stakeholders and these include investors, the Government, power consumers and Ugandans who have no power but would want to be connected," he said.
When the tariffs are set, he explained, the cost is spread across the cost of power generation, transmission and distribution.
"Thermal power contributes about 49% of power generated and almost 90% of the money collected goes back to finance the operations of the thermal plants," Ssebbowa said.
The ERA chief explained that the tariffs are affected by increased power theft, vandalising of electrical equipment like wires and transformers, and the siphoning of transformer oil. "The cost of replacement is a loss to the whole power system and if we don't tackle these issues, power tariffs will remain high," he said.
The press conference comes two days after President Yoweri Museveni summoned the two energy bosses whose fight over the findings of the Salim Saleh report on electricity tariff reduction had paralysed the ministry.
The row at the top of the energy ministry threatened to undermine much-needed investments into the energy sector and risked plunging the country into darkness.
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