In order to ground ourselves deeper into the problem of energy resilence in Uganda, we decided to do some exploratory research into the actual root cause of power outages in urban areas of Kampala over the past 5 years.
We reviewed reports by the main power distributor (UMEME/UEDCL), interviewed some of their staff who were willing to share some internal information off the record and also reviewed other recent academic publications that have explored the same question.
Here’s what we learned are the main causes but first, we also asked the general public living in Kampala today to appreciate what they believed was the cause of the power outages they experience daily in their homes, workplaces and businesses.
What the residents think
We surveyed over 150 residents in Kampala and here’s what they think causes power outages. They are not wrong, well, most of them but as we’ll learn from the data, the reasons are lot more nuanced.
Here’s some interesting “other reasons” respondents provided in their own comments
- Sheer incompetence
- Maintenance routines
- All the above plus negligence
- By road construction in the neighborhood
- DIVERSITY FACTOR
- Inadequate technical HR
- Old transformers
- Overpopulation in areas that were not planned for extra power supply
- Other technical issues (faults) possibly due to power surges
- Sometimes it goes off and yet the yaka meter is still reading. Not sure what causes that.
- The network assets are aged and not replaced on time
- Transformer blow out
- Mostly for my concern some areas with transformer…lack enough Earthing and neutral loss
If you’re wondering what that respondent meant by “DIVERSITY FACTOR”, so are we 😄.
What our research told us
Over the last five months, we’ve been digging into why Kampala’s power seems to have a habit of disappearing — sometimes without warning, often at the worst possible times. After poring over Umeme’s technical reports, talking to regional managers, and looking closely at Kampala-specific data, a picture emerges: it’s not one single thing. It’s a mix of design choices, the weather, aging equipment, growing demand, and a few human factors thrown in for good measure.
The short version? Our city runs mostly on a radial network — think of it as one-way streets for electricity. If a section goes down, everyone downstream is left in the dark. Add to that trees growing year-round into overhead lines, transformers working way past their limits, and a lot of unplanned connections pulling unpredictable loads… and you’ve got the perfect recipe for frequent outages.
1. The Way the Network Is Built
Most of Kampala’s grid is set up in a radial design. That’s fine for smaller, less dense areas, but in a busy city it’s a weak point. In a ring network, power can be rerouted if something goes wrong. In a radial network, there’s only one path. One fault and everything connected to that line goes out.
- No backup routes: Repairs mean shutting down the whole section.
- Too spread out: Feeders are about 70km long on average; best practice is closer to 10km.
- Overloaded substations: Too few to cover the area properly.
2. The Weather and the Trees
Uganda’s climate is a blessing for farmers, but not so much for overhead power lines. Vegetation grows year-round, and keeping it in check is an endless job. Throw in heavy rains and storms, and things get messy fast.
- Wooden poles: 95% of the infrastructure is overhead and wooden — not great in bad weather.
- Flooding risk: 22% of substations are in flood-prone areas.
- Proof in the underground: Areas with underground cables rarely lose power because of weather.
3. Transformers Under Pressure
Over the last five years, Kampala’s added about 850,000 new customers… but fewer than 1,000 new transformers. That’s an 850-to-1 ratio. Transformers are burning out because they’re simply carrying more load than they were designed for.
- Common failures: Overloading, unbalanced phases, overheating, and harmonics from electronics.
- Impact: Each replacement takes about a day; smaller repairs still knock things out for hours.
4. Metering Problems and Power Theft
It’s not just the equipment on the poles. On the ground, faulty meters and illegal connections are causing their own havoc. In high-risk areas, 74% of meters tested were faulty, and tampering is common.
- Losses: Kampala accounts for 70% of Umeme’s commercial losses.
- Effect: Unmetered loads cause sudden demand spikes that the system can’t predict or handle.
- Cost: Millions of dollars in lost revenue and higher stress on the network.
5. Old Equipment, Slow Replacement
The grid has doubled in size since 2005, but much of it is old and overdue for replacement. Maintenance is mostly reactive — fix it when it breaks — which means problems build up.
- Aging assets: Large sections are nearing the end of their life.
- Vandalism: From stolen equipment to wayleave violations, human interference is a real factor.
6. Performance and Investment Gaps
Electricity distribution has improved in some ways; faster emergency response, high revenue collection but investment is limited. With Umeme’s concession nearing its end, long-term projects were scaled back which means there is plenty more overdue renovations that UEDCL has to undertake over the next few years.
So, What Needs to Change?
If we want fewer blackouts, the fixes aren’t complicated in concept — they just take commitment and money:
- Add redundancy: Especially in high-density areas, so faults don’t take out whole neighborhoods.
- Go underground: At least in critical zones where weather and trees are constant problems.
- Plan ahead: Build capacity for the demand we know is coming, not just what’s already here.
- Automate monitoring: So we spot problems before they knock things out or at least before customers report them.
- Manage vegetation smarter: Technology can help track and predict growth near lines.
NFE’s Reliable power microgrids are pushing these resolutions forward but introducing redundancy and real-time monitoring in high-density urban neighborhoods using microgrids. Learn more about our work here.
Bottom line
Kampala’s outages are the result of a network that’s stretched too thin, exposed to the elements, and playing catch-up with a fast-growing population. The solutions are clear but unless we shift from reactive fixes to proactive investment, we’ll keep finding ourselves in the dark.