The Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) on 7th December 2017 held a Public Hearing in respect to Tariff Review Applications for the year 2018, by: Umeme Ltd, Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd (UEGCL), Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (UETCL), Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (UEDCL) and Eskom Uganda Limited.

Presiding over the Public Hearing, Dr. Geofrey Okoboi, the Director for Economic Regulation - ERA who represented the Chief Executive Officer informed stakeholders that it was within ERA’s mandate to undertake the Tariff setting process in a transparent and fair manner, to allow stakeholders contribute to the process. He urged stakeholders to give their views on the applications and Licensees to provide justification for their applications for Tariff review.

In their applications to the Authority, the Licensees submitted various proposals for consideration, including: increment in the production of electricity poles to about 50,000 poles a year, review of the lifeline tariff and standing charges, a single uniform Tariff for domestic customers, removal of the reactive energy tariff, and introduction of Energy Rebate for industrial Customers, among other issues.

The stakeholders at the Hearing expressed the need for making the lifeline tariff more affordable, introduction of a special tariff for agro-processing industries, and proper planning for management of the concessions of Umeme Limited and Eskom Uganda Limited, before expiry of their contracts.

The Director Legal and Authority Affairs, Mr. Harold Obiga, while closing the Public Hearing noted that the views from stakeholders and Licensees would be scrutinized by the Authority before arriving at a decision on the Base Tariffs for 2018.

The Public Hearing preceded the determination of the End-User Base Tariffs to be charged to the different categories of electricity consumers in 2018, subject to changes on a quarterly basis, depending on movements in the macro-economic factors.

The Public Hearing was held at the Imperial Royale Hotel Kampala and was attended by different stakeholders, including electricity consumers, advocacy groups, the media and the general public.