Green technology and assessment of the environment and challenges faced by regulatory authorities in Uganda: A case of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA)

Abstract

Governments across Africa have established regulatory agencies for utilities but these have largely been modeled on those in developed countries and have had limited success. The Electricity Regulatory Authority in Uganda was set up to oversee this important sector but its success has so far been limited as evidenced by the quality, reliability and cost of the service. The Purpose of this study is to examine the factors that influence the performance of ERA, with a view to coming up with mitigation measures. In the first part of the study (presented in this paper), annual reports of the regulatory body, supplemented with press reports, academic papers, and conferences reports are examined. In the second part of the study, the Electricity Governance Toolkit (EGTK) will be used to collect data from relevant electricity laws, rules and regulations developed by the Government of Uganda as well as procedures developed by the regulatory body, and the decisions it has made overtime. In addition, the researchers will conduct interviews with regulatory members and staff, civil society and consumer groups that have filed cases before ERA, as well as a sample of domestic and industrial consumers within Kampala District. Both qualitative (arranging the findings in themes) and quantitative techniques (t tests, frequencies and means) will be utilized to analyze the data. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.