Electricity Outages in Uganda: Causes, Trends and Regional Disparities

Uganda's unreliable electricity grid is a significant hurdle to its development. This paper analyzes the country's electricity situation using data from the national electricity regulator, focusing on Umeme, which supplies electricity to over 90% of the country. Our study reveals that while the median outage duration has decreased in all regions, the frequency of the outages has remained largely unchanged, except in Kampala West. Outages are now more frequent during the day rather than the evening peak demand hours, suggesting that supply constraints are not the primary cause of these outages. We identified failure of overhead equipment accessories as the most common cause of outages, with vandalism-related outages taking the longest to resolve. Additionally, our analysis reveals a connection between rainfall and increased outage intensity, underscoring the electricity grid's vulnerability to climate conditions.