Through our extensive engagement with government in 2017 it became increasingly apparent that there were opportunities to support policy change and that UOMA was uniquely positioned to play a neutral and analytical role in this matter.

The Energy Policy was implemented by the end of 2023. This document will play a central role for the coming decade in Uganda. The previous Energy Policy largely ignored off-grid energy, and early indicators showed that the previous policy makers lacked both the technical expertise and political support to meaningfully include off-grid energy in the upcoming policy. The government has made significant strides in promoting off-grid technologies and the productive use of energy.

The government launched a revised Energy Policy in 2023 with the aim of achieving universal access to sustainable, affordable, and quality energy services by 2040. This initiative is designed to support socioeconomic transformation and meet the energy needs of the population in a sustainable way. The policy will be crucial for Uganda’s energy plans over the next decade.

Furthermore, the government has bolstered the regulatory environment across several priority subsectors, including electric mobility, productive use of energy, climate, and pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) solar home systems. In the past year, they’ve implemented strategies such as the National Productive Use of Renewable Energy (PURE) Roadmap, the PAYGO SHS Scale-up Roadmap, and the National Electricity Policy. Other policies, like the National E-Mobility Strategy and the National Energy Transition Plan, are currently in the pipeline

Since 2018, our goal is to directly support the public sector to create effective policies and an effective enabling environment to increase off-grid energy uptake in Uganda. To do this, UOMA is providing ongoing support and assistance to policy makers through the course of the year to ensure that off-grid energy is accurately and adequately reflected in the new policies.