Factors affecting performance of rural electrification programme in Uganda

Abstract

The study was conducted to examine the factors affecting performance of rural electrification programme in Uganda with Rukungiri district as a case study. The factors studied included Rural housing characteristics, household size, Household income level, connection costs/charges and price of electricity with the sole purpose of determining their impact on performance of rural electrification programme. A cross sectional research design was adapted whereby a total sample of 113 respondents with electricity and 54 respondents were selected for quantitative data using systematic random sampling and purposive sampling respectively. 29 key informants were also selected for qualitative data using purposive sampling. The primary data was collected using structured and semi-structured questionnaire and interview guides as well as secondary data from reports. Data collected was analysed using Stata. The study found out that performance of rural electrification programme was significantly and negatively affected by household size (β2= -0.6339819; P=0.0000<0.05) and connection costs (β4= -0.2147675; P=0.037<0.05); price of electricity also having a positive significant impact (β5=0.6292673; P=0.0000<0.05) while rural housing characteristics and household income level had a positive insignificant impact on performance of rural electrification programme with (β1=0.1121203; P=0.059>0.05) and (β3=0.0616083; P=0.085>0.05) respectively. The model specified exhibits R2 = 0.6918 implying that factors under this study explain up to 69.18% of the variations in performance of rural electrification programme which reflects that the variables and data used were fit for this study. The study recommends government to provide Incentives to recover the costs by permitting projects below 3 MW to operate with minimal government regulation such that investors can charge realistic tariffs that cover operating costs and yield a return on investment but consistently conducting studies into the trends of household incomes and peoples’ perception on the existing price levels to mitigate the risk of power companies misusing incentives to charge exorbitant prices for abnormal profitability; Develop a mode of payment for electricity connection where by households pay in installments or make the period of electricity connection payment longer for example six months or even one year; Roll out the use of pre paid meters and subsidize the price of these electricity meters by reducing taxes on companies importing them to reduce upfront connection costs; Prioritise development strategies that increase income generations among households and at the same time promote rural electrification; population control measures like family planning, girl child education and make use of population control policies