In a bid to ensure that electrical installation work in Uganda is carried out by qualified and competent individuals and companies to protect the public from electrical accidents and to ensure the safety of the electricity supply network, power regulator, the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) has called on Ugandans to use only wiremen certified to carryout electrical installations.
Speaking at the Installation Permit Conference in Kampala where ERA met with certified electrical permit holders of Class D And C, the Authority CEO, Eng. Ziria Tibalwa Waako reminded Ugandans that electrical installations done by illegal and uncertified electricians do not stop at causing financial losses to the sector, but also pose serious danger to the public.
ERA certifies and authorises wire persons to carryout proper electrical installation on premises. Certified electricians are issued permits that classify the amount of power they are authorized to install. The permit class determines the electrician’s power installation capabilities.
For instance, Class A permit holder is certified to carry out all and any kind of class of electrical installation work, Class B carries out electrical installation work of such medium value or complexity, including heavy low voltage and simple high voltage connections up to 11 kV while Class C permit holder is authorized to carry out electrical installation work of such small value including: installation in multi-storied flats and other big bungalows and mansions of complex design and commercial buildings; or installation of light plants of up to a level of 415 volts.
Permit holder of Class D is authorized to Carry out work restricted to any specialised class of electrical installation work, including: installation of residential premises not exceeding five bedrooms; and repairs on equipment of up to 240 volts, while Class Z permit holder is certified to carry out specialised fields like: switch gear installation; centralised cooling and refrigeration; installation of generator sets; solar systems; and electrical installation systems and designs.
Eng. Waako said that the pre signing of a completion certificate by the electrician is fraud, explaining that the wire man must digitally generate a certificate of completion at premise after carrying out the electrical installation.
“We have digitized the process. There is no forging of a completion certificate. A completion certificate is generated digitally at the premise by a certified wire man. The forgery that has been happening through pre signing of completion certificates, that creates a hazard where non certified wire men do the work, but buy a completion certificate to connect electricity to that installation, we have sorted that. That one is now solved. The other one is that we are coming up with a database funded by the African Development Bank. This database is going to address customer complaints in real time, meaning the public once we sensitize them, they will join us to ensure that we enforce proper performance of the sector because now they have opportunity to in real time using that small devices raise these complaints,” she said.
So far, ERA has certified a total of 3,500 wire men, with 2,450 holding Class C and Class B permits.
Eng. Waako said ERA aims certify up to 10,000 personnel.
“We need 10,000. We are targeting 10,000 to ensure that we have a comfortable number to be able to undertake all the government programs. We started this in 2021, and on annual basis, we used to have four meetings for the installations permits committee that certifies these wiremen, but this year, we have had 80 sittings, and we certified 1,430 out of 1,700 applications we received,” she said.
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Ruth Nankabirwa who officiated the event, reaffirmed Eng. Waako’s remarks, saying that government is determined to chase non certified electricians away from the market.
“Certified electricians play a critical role in this effort to increase access to electricity by at least 60% by the year 2040 because they prepare customers’ premises for electricity supply and save electricity consumption. We want to chase away engineer bumyufu (illegal and non certified electricians), because we are now opening up, we are formal, we are professional. We are training men and women to do the right work. And so our eyes must be on the ground so that our people are not fleeced because at the end of the day, the inspectors will come to see how that installation has been done,” said Nankabirwa.
The move to ramp up the certification of electricians comes as Government secures a 638 million-dollar loan from the World Bank for the implementation of the Electricity Access Scale-up Project (EASP) to be implemented over a period of five years.
ELECTRICITY ACCESS SCALE-UP PROJCET (EASP)
Nankabirwa said that over 1.3 million households will be connected to the National power grid through the Electricity Access Scale-up Project (EASP) being implemented by Government with a 638 million dollar funding from the World Bank.
“We expect about 1,360,000 households be connected on the grid and we also expect about 150,000 off grid connections, and the project will also benefit our our plans towards clean cooking solutions through various financial intermediation measures. This project comes in to address the government program of Electricity Connections Policy to address connection backlog. We have backlog, very many applications not connected. So, we pray for this project. Because whenever we face challenges, we say EASP is coming. We are hoping to solve this problem,” she said.
Government secured a 638 million-dollar loan from the World Bank for the implementation of the Electricity Access Scale-up Project (EASP) to be implemented over a period of five years.
The EASP will support Government’s efforts to increase access to electricity for households, refugee and host communities, industrial parks, commercial enterprises and public institutions.
The EASP activities will build on earlier Government initiatives in the energy sector, to support the expansion and strengthening of the electricity distribution network, scale-up service connections within the network, and increase access to off-grid electricity in refugee settlements and their host communities (outside the existing electricity distribution network), and to scale up clean cooking services and technologies.
