Gov’t eyes Joint Venture As Umeme Exit Nears.

Gulu: The Minister for Energy and Mineral Development, Ruth Nankabirwa has revealed that the government plans to enter into a partnership arrangement to operate the country’s national grid when Umeme Limited’s concession ends.

Umeme Ltd, a private power distributor has been running a 20-year power distribution concession since 2005 with a 20 percent return on investment. The government declined to renew the concession which is coming to an end early next year.

Nankabirwa is of the view that the joint venture or partnership arrangement will offer a better deal for the government and lead to a reduction in electricity tariff.

She was speaking at the commissioning of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) Northern Regional offices in Gulu City on Tuesday June 18, 2024.

Nankabirwa said her Ministry is already working at ensuring there won’t be any buyout in the future after Umeme Exit the sector.

While its concession will come to an end naturally on February 28th, 2025, the government is expected to pay about $215 million (approximately 798 billion shillings) as a buyout price for all unrecovered capital investments of the power distributor according to Nankabirwa.

She also noted that the proposals aim to ensure that there isn’t another double-digit Return on investment arguing that the Umeme Ltd concession was costly since it was based on commercial purposes.