The Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) is a government agency that regulates, licenses, and supervises the generation, transmission, distribution, sale, export, and importation of electrical energy in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Location

The offices of the ERA are located in the New ERA House at 5C-1 Third Street, Lugogo Industrial Area,

Kampala Central Division Kampala Central Division is one of the five divisions that make up Kampala, the capital of Uganda. The city's five divisions are: (a) Kampala Central Division (b) Kawempe Division (c) Lubaga Division (d) Makindye Division and (e) Nakawa Divisi ...

, in the country's capital city. The coordinates of New ERA House are 0°19'18.0"N 32°36'18.0"E (Latitude:0.321667; Longitude:32.605000).

Overview

ERA was established in 2000, in accordance with the Electricity Act of 1999, as an agency of the Uganda Ministry of Energy, Oil and Mineral Development. This

parastatal A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

is governed by a five-member board, also known as the "Authority". The day-to-day affairs of the agency are supervised by the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. Organizations and committees within the purview of the ERA include the Rural Electrification Board and the Electricity Consumer Committees.

Operations

One of the responsibilities of the agency is the issuance of licenses to electricity wiremen/wirewomen in Uganda, who totaled nearly 2,000 as at November 2018. A member of the Authority also chairs a 5-person Installations Permit Committee, which is responsible for interviewing applicants for installation permits, processing of new permits, renewal of permits and undertaking disciplinary measures against permit holders who violate the terms and conditions of their permits.

Governance

The authority is supervised by a board of directors, chaired by Sarah Wasagali Kanaabi. The chief executive officer of the authority is Engineer

Ziria Tibalwa Waako Ziria Tibalwa Waako is a Ugandan electrical engineer and corporate executive, who has serves as the executive director and chief executive officer of the Electricity Regulatory Authority since November 2016. She replaced Benon Mutambi, who was ...

Recognition and awards

In December 2021, the annual

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

’s 2021 Electricity Regulatory Index selected Uganda's electricity sector as the best-regulated on the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n continent, for the fourth consecutive year. By extension, Uganda's Electricity Regulatory Authority is the best electricity sector regulator in Africa, for four years running, according to the AfDB.

Developments

In February 2025, the ERA operationised Ugandan laws that allow for a manufacturer whose electricity requirements equal or exceed 1,500kVA to purchase electricity directly from the generation companies without going through an intermediary. If on the grid, up to 30 percent bulk purchases can be acquired that way. If off-grid the manufacturer can purchase up to 100 percent of its electricity needs directly from the power producer. The intention of the ew regulations is lower the electricity tariff to manufacturers from an average of US$0.068 per

Kilowatt-hour A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a comm ...

in Q4 2024, to the desired US$0.050 per Kilowatt-hour in the future.

References

External links

* {{coord, 00, 19, 20, N, 32, 35, 13, E, display=title

Regulatory agencies of Uganda Electric power in Uganda Government agencies established in 2000 Organisations based in Kampala 2000 establishments in Uganda