Uganda plunged into nationwide darkness after major grid collapse

KAMPALA — Uganda was thrust into a total blackout Sunday morning after a sudden failure in the national electricity grid, according to the state-run transmission utility.

The Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited, or UETCL, issued an emergency public notice confirming that the nationwide power outage began at 8:53 a.m. on April 12. The failure affected all regions connected to the national network, leaving millions of homes, businesses, and essential services without electricity.

UETCL management stated that technical teams have been deployed to assess the situation and begin the delicate process of restoring the national grid. While the company confirmed that restoration efforts have commenced, it did not provide a specific timeline for when power would return to different parts of the country.

Engineers are currently investigating the root cause of the incident. In previous years, similar nationwide outages in Uganda have been triggered by technical faults at major generation plants or external factors such as floating islands of weeds affecting hydroelectric dams on the River Nile.

In its official statement, UETCL management apologized for the disruption and requested patience from the public.

The outage comes at a time when the utility is under scrutiny regarding grid stability and financial health.

Recent reports indicated that while UETCL has expanded its transmission network by more than 6% over the last year, it has faced significant operating challenges and financial pressures linked to unpaid receivables within the energy sector.

As of Sunday morning, major towns including Jinja, Tororo, and parts of the Kampala metropolitan area remained in darkness, with distribution companies like UEDCL also reporting ongoing outages across their respective networks.