Petition to the Minister of Energy Calling For Promotion of Clean Cooking
Inclusive Green Economic Network - East Africa (IGEN-EA) has written a petition to the Minister of Energy discussing barriers to clean cooking energy access in Uganda and requests the Ministry of Energy to address these challenges.
It states that while 94% of Ugandan households rely on biomass for cooking, access to electricity is only 19%. Barriers include low energy access overall, high power prices partly due to delayed dam projects, failure to reduce tariffs as committed, and low awareness and uptake of cleaner cooking innovations like solar cookers.
The document makes several specific requests of the Ugandan Ministry of Energy:
Implement policies to increase household access to clean cooking energy sources. Current clean energy adoption remains extremely low across Uganda.
Fully execute the 2016 agreement between the UK and Ugandan governments to expand off-grid solar power through actions like developing consumer protection regulations.
Report off-grid and on-grid energy access rates separately when publishing national statistics. This will better reflect progress as most Ugandan households can only adopt off-grid solutions.
Reduce consumer electricity tariffs by addressing issues like long overdue payments from government agencies. More affordable power is critical for clean cooking adoption.
Fund public awareness campaigns that promote alternatives to traditional biomass fuels like charcoal and firewood in order to curb deforestation rates.
Incentivize consumer purchasing of new clean cooking technologies to overcome risk aversion to high upfront costs.
The document argues affordable, clean cooking energy is essential for Ugandans and urges the Ministry to take tangible steps to improve access and affordability. Click here to access the full document.
