Today, it is very hard to find a homestead that does not benefit from the use of electricity. Even if the house is not wholly connected, at least one of the family members should have a phone that needs charge from electric power.
But it is not a secret that the expense one has to go through to access electricity is very high. The Electricity Regulatory Authority made it clear that the bills are for long still up, as long as the consumption rates are still low.
With that in mind, you will still need to connect your house to electricity, and probably through UMEME. We outlined for you the basic steps to follow when bringing in the power to your home, and gave you the requirements needed.
Currently, electricity access country-wide remains low at about 20% for all forms of energy. This implies that over 80% of Ugandans can’t access electricity on their own.
Reason? Connection fees has been singled out as one of the reasons many Ugandan have not been connected to the grid even when they are living in electrified villages.
However, you can get a free electricity connection from UMEME, with only a connection fee being the output you make. The catch? You must have your neighbours already connected to electricity, and you are with in 60 metres from their connection pole.
All this is through an on going project by the government of Uganda, called Electricity connection policy (ECP).
What is the Electricity connection policy?
This is an electricity connection project managed by the Rural Electrification Agency in a bid to have all households in Uganda access to electricity. The project is funded by international donors such as KFW, African Development Bank, French Development and European Union among others.
Those with their houses located sixty metres from the electricity pole will qualify for free connections provide that their houses are wired by certified electricians. With the free connections, government hopes that access to electricity will initially increase to 26% by 2020 and jump to 60% by 2027.
Requirements to get free electricity connection
You will have to pay UGX 20,000 for inspection fees. Additionally, you must have a wiring certificate, a passport photo, proof of ownership and way leave forms. If you have these requirements, you should visit the nearest UMEME office and make your application.
This should save you over UGX 360,000 in connection fees that you could have spent on the starndard connection.
