MANAGING DIRECTOR
Dear Audience,
On behalf of the management team and all staff of Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL), I welcome you to our social website.
Following the unbundling of UEB in 2001 as part of the energy sector reforms that resulted into three successor companies, UEDCL is among the companies that were created and it has steadily continued to achieve its mandate including:- monitoring of the Lease and Assignment Agreement (LAA) with Umeme Ltd concession as part of government strategy to attract private capital in the energy sector, operate a commercially viable high quality creosote wood pole plant, construction of distribution line extension for special government projects and electricity distribution in 9 service territories especially in the rural areas which are not concession to private operators.
Under the authority as vested under the concession agreement, UEDCL has executed its mandate as per the LAA of inspecting the leased distribution assets and monitoring the investment done by Umeme Ltd in order to keep the distribution network in a better state that has enabled stable and quality power availability.
The company operates a certified ISO 9001:2015 creosote wood pole treatment plant at Lugogo on a commercial basis which produces high quality wooded poles which are resistant to the tough tropical weather conditions; and are fitted with high technology tracking chip (the Radio Frequency Identification Tagger) in order to have a complete register of all the poles from production up to deployment in the field.
Additionally, UEDCL is also a power distributor in the 9 service territories made up of 74 districts across the country outside the concession areas mainly in the rural areas. These areas include the formally off-grid stations that were envisaged to be loss making areas due to low energy consumption that could limit the operator to breakeven; however, UEDCL has turned them around to the extent that, now all the operational expenses are covered within the tariff without relying on subsidies.
At the same time the company is keeping a state of readiness as a government institution to takeover any distribution company that fails to meet its mandate and performance as prescribed by the regulator and/or the government. A case in point, in March 2017 and April 2021, UEDCL took over the operation of 4 (four) services territories from private operators and now, these areas have been turned around operating efficiently and they are commercially viable.
There are cases were the government through the budget allocation or from other sources of financing, secures funds, and UEDCL is requested to be the executing agency; a job that has been successful and timely done, notably for some projects like West Nile network upgrades and Achwa II power evacuation line.
Finally, as part of the company’s commitment and obligation, UEDCL has continued to participate in the planning and implementation of government programs towards a better and self-sustainable energy sector.
I commend the support and guidance of the Board of Directors, and the dedication of management and staff towards achieving the company’s vision of a guaranteed robust electricity distribution network.
I extend a vote of thanks on behalf of management to all our stakeholders for the support.