Every morning across Uganda, long before the sun rises, millions of women are already awake striking matches, fanning embers, and coaxing life into smoky stoves to prepare breakfast for their families. This daily ritual, often taken for granted, represents hours of unpaid labor. It is invisible, hazardous work carried out under conditions that compromise health, consume time, and entrench gender inequality. Cooking with charcoal or firewood is not merely a household chore, it is a socio-economic burden disproportionately shouldered by women and girls.
The government of Uganda recognized this silent crisis not just as a matter of energy access, but as an intersection of public health, environmental degradation, and gender disparity. In 2022, government, through the electricity sector supervisor, the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) launched a transformative initiative, the Cooking Tariff, commonly known as the Fumba Tariff to ease the cost of using electricity specifically for cooking at UGX 412 per kilowatt-hour, the tariff applies to electricity units consumed between the 81st and 150th units in a month, effectively subsidizing electric cooking for many households. For an average Ugandan family, this enables a full month of preparing meals without resorting to expensive charcoal or labor-intensive firewood collection.
This quiet revolution has already begun reshaping kitchens and lives. Where clean cooking technologies like electric pressure cookers (EPCs) are adopted, women find themselves liberated from the vice grip of smoke and soot. Kitchens have become safer, meal preparation faster, and domestic energy bills more predictable. In homes where cooking no longer means sweat, burns, and prolonged exposure to smoke, shared participation between men and women is beginning to emerge not as an obligation, but as an opportunity made possible by cleaner, more efficient appliances.
For a working mother in Kampala, this can mean preparing porridge in ten minutes instead of an hour. For a grandmother in Gulu, it means no longer walking miles to collect firewood. For a schoolgirl in Kiboga, it is about gaining precious time otherwise lost fetching wood before class. And for a pregnant woman in Jinja, it is a chance to cook without coughing through every meal. These are not isolated benefits they represent a collective reclaiming of time, dignity, and safety.
A 2025 study conducted by the Centre for Research in Energy and Energy Conservation (CREEC) illustrates the dramatic cost savings associated with electric cooking. For example, cooking beans costs approximately UGX 3,060 on charcoal but just UGX 480 using an EPC. A serving of meat that costs UGX 1,440 when prepared with charcoal drops to UGX 360 on electricity. Even cooking matooke, a national staple, falls from UGX 720 to just UGX 257. These numbers do not merely indicate cost-efficiency they underscore a viable pathway out of energy poverty.
Still, these gains come with challenges. Access to electricity in rural areas, the upfront cost of electric cooking appliances, and limited awareness about energy-efficient technologies continue to limit adoption. Although Uganda’s access to electricity has significantly improved, access to clean cooking lags behind. While lighting and other appliances are commonly powered by electricity, the majority of Ugandans, especially in rural and peri-urban areas—continue to rely on biomass fuels. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2024), access to clean cooking has only increased from below 1% in 2000 to about 15% in 2024, illustrating the need for targeted investments and policies that address this gap.
The environmental implications are equally urgent. Uganda loses over 90,000 hectares of forest each year, much of it due to charcoal production. This accelerates deforestation, reduces biodiversity, and worsens climate change impacts. Promoting electric cooking through affordable tariffs is not only a gender-sensitive intervention it is a climate action tool. By reimagining the kitchen as a site of transformation, the cooking tariff aligns with Uganda’s broader commitments to energy transition, forest conservation, and sustainable development.
The cooking tariff is by no means a perfect solution. Adoption remains uneven, and deeper policy and infrastructural investments are needed to scale its impact equitably. Yet, its significance cannot be overstated. In a sector often dominated by large-scale projects and infrastructure narratives, this seemingly modest tariff represents something deeply transformative: a social recognition of women’s labor, a nudge toward domestic equity, and a low-emission path to development.
Through this initiative, government tells the women of Uganda: we see you. We value your time, your health, and your contributions. In a society where the energy market too often overlooks the private burdens women bear, this tariff offers a gentle flame of hope, a step toward a future where cooking is no longer a struggle, but a shared, safe, and dignified part of daily life.
By Costa Nantume
Communication Officer