Residents of Entebbe Municipality should look to better electricity services following Umeme’s announcement for construction of a 20MVA Substation in Nakasamba, Entebbe. This was moments after National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) handed over land to Umeme in a move that will improve power reliability.
Johnson Okochi, Umeme’s Projects Investment Manager while speaking at the site handover and groundbreaking ceremony said. “This project will take 5 months to complete and will cost a total investment of US$ 1.5 million, about UGX5 billion.”
Adding, “All the critical equipment needed for the construction of the 20MVA is already in the country. Once complete, the investment will serve the National Water plant and the Entebbe township.”
Okochi said they are anticipating more developments in the area and the coming of this substation will address the load demand and power reliability in Entebbe.
A team from NWSC, led by Emmanuel Mujuni, handed over the site to Umeme to commence construction of a substation next to the Entebbe water treatment & pumpage station.
“This will go along way in guaranteeing more stable power since we recently upgraded our systems with higher capacity & more efficient water pumps. This station will guarantee stable supply of the power system. We thank NWSC management for agreeing to the memorandum of understanding with UMEME,” Mujuni said.
The substation is part of the major investments earmarked by Umeme and approved by Electricity Regulatory Authority.
Entebbe is a very sensitive area with key installations like the National Airport, State House among others.
The substation will help in stepping down voltage picked from the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) to levels safe for use by domestic and commercial consumers.
“This gesture by NWSC is key in building synergies to deliver such critical services, especially for us in the utilities sector,” said Peter Kaujju, Umeme’s Head of Communications.
Pearl Bank Celebrates Customers in Festive Campaign Dubbed Pearl SantaThe utility company has invested in 69 Substations and built over 44,000km of Medium and low Voltage network, installed 14,014 distribution transformers including 1.5 million metering points.
The Company has invested over US$739 million in the distribution network to ensure safe, efficient and reliable electricity supply.
In 2020 alone, Umeme spent US$83.3 million (about UGX310 billion) to ramp up a capacity enhancement and network stabilisation in rapidly growing regions across the country.
The investments are part of a larger US$450 million (UGX1.7 trillion) five year investment agenda in support of Uganda’s National Development Plan focusing on increasing grid connections, increasing demand, reliability of supply and driving efficiencies.
Umeme earmarked US$219 million (UGX813.2 billion budget) for investment in 2021. Of that, US$119 million (UGX442.4 billion) will be for capital investments in the grid while $60m (UGX222.4 billion) will cater for net operating costs.
It will invest in the evacuation of Karuma and Acwa hydropower plants, on improving power supply and expand the network.
Mandate
Umeme is mandated to operate, maintain, upgrade and expand the distribution network, retail electricity to its customers and improve efficiency within the electricity distribution system. Umeme is a public company listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange and Nairobi Securities Exchange and regulated by the Electricity Regulatory Authority. Uganda’s National Social Security Fund is the largest investor in Umeme with 23.2% shareholding.
