Uganda’s Utilities 2.0 Mannequin Exhibits How Collaboration Can Speed up African Electrification

Final Up to date on: twenty third July 2025, 03:51 am

By Energy for All

A pilot undertaking in rural Uganda demonstrates that utilities and mini-grid operators working collectively can ship electrical energy 3.5 occasions sooner and 64% cheaper than conventional approaches.

With over 600 million folks throughout Africa nonetheless missing entry to electrical energy, the continent faces one of many world’s most urgent improvement challenges: securing sufficient dependable, reasonably priced power for financial development, job creation, healthcare, schooling, and clear water entry. Regardless of many years of funding and quite a few initiatives, electrification charges have struggled to maintain tempo with inhabitants development, leaving complete communities trapped in power poverty and financial potential unrealized.

In Uganda, the problem is stark. Roughly 23 million folks, about half of the inhabitants, stay unconnected to electrical energy. In rural areas, entry drops even additional, and even the place connections exist, outages are frequent and expensive. Productive use of power, a key driver of financial transformation, stays low.

A part of the issue lies in how electrification has historically been approached. Nationwide utilities and decentralized renewable power (DRE) suppliers have largely operated in silos—competing for restricted funding, duplicating infrastructure, and lacking alternatives to align on shared objectives. This fragmentation has made it arduous to achieve last-mile communities cost-effectively. Extending the grid to distant areas includes excessive capital prices, sparse buyer bases, and low consumption—challenges utilities with tight budgets can’t simply overcome. In the meantime, DRE corporations usually lack the regulatory assist or scale to transcend remoted pockets of service.

To interrupt by way of these obstacles, Uganda piloted a daring different.

The Utilities 2.0 mannequin

Launched in 2021, the Utilities 2.0 initiative is a first-of-its-kind partnership between centralized utilities and DRE suppliers. 

Convened by Energy for All, a worldwide marketing campaign working to finish power poverty, in partnership with Uganda’s nationwide utility Umeme, mini-grid developer Equatorial Energy, and productive use of power companions Energrow and East African Energy, the pilot introduced collectively regulators, funders, and policymakers to handle the systemic obstacles which have historically prevented coordinated electrification efforts. Relatively than seeing utilities and mini-grid operators as opponents, Utilities 2.0 explored how they’ll collaborate to attach extra folks, extra shortly, and extra sustainably.

The pilot came about in Kiwumu, a peri-urban group the place grid extension had lengthy been deliberate however not but carried out. A photo voltaic mini-grid and good distribution community have been quickly deployed, electrifying 92% of households inside six months. As demand grew, the positioning was interconnected with the primary grid, and the mini-grid was redeployed to a brand new off-grid space—showcasing a dynamic, modular method that meets folks’s power wants now, whereas aligning with long-term grid plans.

Outcomes that redefine what’s attainable

The influence was extraordinary. In weeks, 370 households gained energy—3.5 occasions sooner than conventional grid timelines. Month-to-month electrical energy consumption soared to 2,765 kWh, 30 occasions greater than comparable grid-connected communities, as houses and companies moved shortly up the power ladder—from primary lighting to productive makes use of like refrigeration, maize milling, drying, and small-scale manufacturing.

Prices have been additionally slashed. The typical value to attach a family dropped from over $500 to only $186. Pre-paid good metering halved distribution losses. And critically, buyer lifetime worth rose by greater than 400%, making rural electrification extra financially enticing to each private and non-private traders.

A blueprint for scale

The Utilities 2.0 mannequin isn’t only a native success—it’s a replicable blueprint. By integrating planning, funding, and repair supply throughout centralized and decentralized actors, it solves long-standing bottlenecks in last-mile entry.

Scaling this method throughout Uganda might present 1.5 million new electrical energy connections by 2030—representing 14% of the whole wanted connections—whereas including 70MW of renewable power capability. It might reduce funding prices by 30%, cut back family connection prices by 64%, and develop the mini-grid market share from 100,000 to 1.5 million connections. For a rustic with over 28 million folks nonetheless unconnected, these numbers signify a major leap towards common power entry.

Key enablers for scale embrace:

• Joint planning between utilities and mini-grid builders to map demand and deploy least-cost options.
• Blended financing fashions that de-risk personal capital whereas leveraging utility stability.
• Regulatory innovation to allow interconnection, tariff alignment, and asset portability.
• Sensible know-how to trace utilization, cut back losses, and enhance buyer expertise.
• Assist for productive use to develop native economies and increase power demand.

The success in Kiwumu demonstrates what is feasible. Now, with the precise coverage, funding, and collaboration, Uganda has a possibility to cleared the path in electrification—whereas providing a mannequin that may inform and encourage different nations going through comparable entry challenges.

Regional momentum

With the African Improvement Financial institution and World Financial institution main Mission 300, an bold initiative to attach 300 million folks to electrical energy throughout sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, companions have pledged greater than $50 billion to speed up progress. Fashions like Utilities 2.0 provide a confirmed, cost-effective pathway to assist obtain these objectives by fostering collaboration between nationwide utilities, decentralized power suppliers, and regulators, accelerating electrification throughout the area.

However, assembly these objectives would require political will from governments and focused coverage and regulatory reforms tailor-made to nationwide contexts. With out this alignment, even the simplest technical options danger falling in need of their potential.

The time for integration is now

Kiwumu proves that built-in electrification is just not solely attainable—it’s sooner, cheaper, and higher for patrons and utilities alike. The query is now not whether or not centralized and decentralized actors can work collectively. It’s how briskly we are able to replicate and scale what works.