When UMEME’s concession ended in March last year, the market assumed finality. Power lines would keep running, but value, many believed, had gone with the concession. The share price, according to an analysis from Crested Capital, at UGX142, told that story clearly of a company at the end of its road. But then came an arbitration, which perse, is not an epilogue, but opened a second chapter. In June last year, Umeme escalated a $292m compensation claim against the government of Uganda in a London arbitration. Weeks of talks had failed to end the stalemate over compensation for unrecovered assets…
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The long-running standoff between Umeme and the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) over a UGX 594 billion debt has once again thrown Uganda’s power sector into turmoil, exposing deep financial fissures in the country’s electricity value chain. In an exclusive response to the CEO East Africa Magazine, UETCL maintains that the UGX 593.5 billion in question represents verified receivables accumulated from energy sales to Umeme under the Power Sales Agreement (PSA), which governed the purchase and distribution of electricity throughout the company’s 20-year concession. According to the transmission utility, the figure audited and confirmed by the Office of the…
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When the clock struck midnight on April 1, 2025, Uganda turned a historic page in its power sector. The familiar “Umeme Yaka” brand, etched into the daily lives of millions of Ugandans, vanished from mobile menus overnight. In its place appeared “UEDCL Light”, a symbolic turn of the page that ended Umeme’s two-decade concession and began a state-run era under Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL). For boardrooms and living rooms alike, it wasn’t just a rebrand; it was a test. Would the lights really stay on? At the center of that question is Paul Mwesigwa, UEDCL’s Managing Director. He…
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The Umeme Staff Pension Scheme was supposed to be like any other pension fund—steady, predictable, and focused on making sure members get their money on time. But instead of just…
Crested Capital has released its mid-year report card on the performance of local counters on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE), highlighting the stocks delivering the highest total shareholder returns (TSR)…
As Uganda Electricity Distribution Company (UEDCL) formally takes over the power distribution function, it will be months or even years before Ugandans move on from the days of Umeme. Yes, it will be long, or it might never happen again for Umeme to be part of Uganda’s electricity sub-sector, for which it had been part of for at least 20 years. In 2022, government decided not to renew Umeme’s concession at the natural end of the 20-year agreement under which the power distributor managed assets leased from UEDCL. Thus, the assets on Monday, formally reverted to UEDCL, which has over…
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By David Birungi In a few days, the last man standing at Umeme will flip the 240 volts switch and move on to the next lit room in UEDCL. Congratulations…
The current rope pulling and shoving offer an insight into what is turning out to be an interesting twist in the exit of Umeme. Until a few days ago, the events around the exit of the company that has been part of Uganda’s electricity sub-sector for 20 years, had been largely silent. However, in the weeks to the end of the concession due on 31st March 2025, voices emerged and have become louder, threatening to tear apart a relationship – despite the existence of some knocks here and there – that has been cordial over the 20 year-course of the…
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Uganda Parliament Speaker, Anita Among has today received the Auditor General’s report on Umeme which recommends a USD 118 (UGX 433 billion) Buyout amount for the unrecovered investments. Speaker Among…
A leaked memo from the Office of the Prime Minister reveals that the government of Uganda plans to review and possibly approve borrowing proposals amounting to over USD 1.6 billion (UGX 5.8 trillion) during a cabinet-level meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 26, 2025. The meeting, convened by the Prime Minister, is expected to consider 12 separate loan requests from various ministries and government agencies, targeting key sectors such as roads, energy, water, health, agriculture, and financial services. Loan proposals listed in the memo: €186.97 million and an additional €19.46 million from the African Development Bank for the Busega–Mpigi Expressway. €198.6…
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