Government has secured Shs2 trillion to connect every home and business in rural areas to the national power grid for free.
According to Mr Godfrey Turyahikayo, the executive director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Cabinet has approved the Electricity Connections Policy under which the project will be fulfilled over a period of 10 years.
Mr Turyahikayo said the money will come from government and donors, adding that so far REA has secured Shs330b from government and it’s partners such as the World Bank for the first phase of connections to start in June.
He said they expect to connect at least 300,000 households every year and when all the funds are available, this will shoot to 500,000 households annually.
According to Sylvia Birungi, the REA principal connections officer, they will first target households which are near electricity poles but are unable to afford connection.
Birungi added that those who want to be connected will visit offices of Umeme and other regional power distributors such as Kilembe Investment Ltd, UEDCL, WENRECO, and others and then apply.
Turyahikayo said they aim to increase national power coverage from the current 20 percent to 60 percent in 2027 and 80 per cent by 2040.
He added that under the arrangement, they will also upgrade power lines, put new transformers and improve the capacity of the existing ones.
