KAMPALA, UGANDA: Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Energy has announced the resumption of the Free Electricity Connection Policy after three months of suspension since December last year.
Under the policy implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), government offers free power connections to the national grid for domestic users who need one pole or no pole at all.
The policy was unveiled in 2018 and was supposed to run for 20 years, and achieve over 60% connection to the national grid by 2027.
However, it was suspended by government in December 2020 as more government resources got sucked into addressing the effects of Covid19.
Cabinet however, yesterday decided to have this policy resumed in a phased manner.
Announcing the resumption this morning, Energy Minister May Gorreti Kitutu told press that government has set aside Shs 14.2billion to procure connection materials.
The free connections as such, she said, will resume on March 8th 2020, starting with no-pole connections.
The minister further said that the government is hoping to make 110 687 new connections, which is hoped to significantly reduce the backlog that was created during the Covid19 crisis.
According to Minister Kitutu, by the time the program was suspended last year, up to 200,500 users had successfully submitted applications for connection.
“This time, the program has been revised to accommodate for those who are able and willing to pay for their connections where government cannot fund the connections,” the minister clarified.
By August this year, the minister said government expects more funding from the ADB and Exim Bank of China which will help scale up the project.
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