Government to give out 311, 000 bulbs again

Energy Minister, Irene Muloni launches the free LED bulbs last year . File photo. 

KAMPALA
The government is set to give out 311, 000 light emitting diode (LED) bulbs to 103, 000 households this month.
This is the third time in nine years that the government is giving out bulbs – to check the households’ electricity consumption.

Each household will get three LED bulbs, each of 7 watts, in exchange for three incandescent bulbs of varying watts.

The government will distribute the bulbs, through Uganda’s main power distributor Umeme, to Umeme’s customers.
“The criteria to become a beneficiary are as follows: one must be an Umemecustomer with an account number,” Umeme’s media manager Stephen Ilungole told the Daily Monitor on Tuesday, March 1.
“…should be on the beneficiary feeder, fill in an information capture form (account number, location details) [and] exchange three old bulbs for three LED ones.”

Mr Ilungole said the LEDs would be given to households in Ntinda, Port Bell, Kisugu, Ggaba, Kireka, Kajjansi and Entebbe Municipality.

The government first gave out bulbs in 2007 – when Uganda was generating less electricity than it needed, then in October 2014 and then now.

The 311, 000 LEDs it will give out are part of the 840, 000 it sourced in 2014, at a cost of $4.1 million (Shs13.628 billion).In 2014, it gave some LEDs to some homeowners in Kampala, Entebbe and Wakiso in central Uganda.
Still, some people in those areas say they did not get any, much as they would have want at least one LED bulb, which cost between of Shs4, 000 and Shs17, 000 depending on the brand.

The distribution of the 311, 000 LEDS comes before the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) establishes if the first batch (of 420, 000) LEDs, which were distributed in 2014, had an impact on suppressed demand.

An evaluation, which reportedly started in January, will be completed mid this month.

So it is “too early to come up with conclusions”, ERA’s manager consumer and public affairs John Julius Wandera told the Monitor earlier via telephone.

Uganda currently generates more electricity than the suppressed demand.

In 2014, ERA’s director technical regulation Ms Ziria Tibalwa Waako said one could reduce their electricity bill by a third if they use LED bulbs, commonly referred to as energy savers.

Suppressed demand currently peaks at 539 megawatts between 6pm and 11pm when many people are at home and have turned on their electrical gadgets and lights.

Generation/supply at peak hours is 549MW.