Kampala Dialogue Weighs Oil Revenues and Existing Petroleum Fund Rules for Uganda’s Energy-Transition Financing

Government officials and civil society representatives met in Kampala on 19 June 2026 to examine whether revenues from Uganda's oil sector can finance the Energy Transition Plan. The dialogue was funded by the Natural Resources Governance Institute and organized under the Civil Society Coalition on Oil and Gas.

The Energy Transition Plan outlines five goals: universal access to electricity and cleaner cooking by 2030, modernization and diversification of the energy mix, a secure and affordable supply, a 20 percent reduction in energy emissions relative to 2030 baseline levels, and positioning Uganda as a regional energy hub.

Under the National Energy Policy 2023, the government targets universal electricity access and 50 percent access to clean cooking by 2040. 5 percent as of 19 June 2026. He attributed the increase to the commissioning of the 600-megawatt Karuma Hydropower Project and wider use of off-grid solar systems.

Werikhe said the government aims to connect 300,000 households each year, though actual annual connections have averaged between 190,000 and 220,000. Werikhe noted that generation capacity now exceeds immediate demand, but transmission and distribution infrastructure remain underfunded. "The issue is not what we are generating.

We have enough power, but some of it is lying idle because of underinvestment in transmission," he said. National Planning Authority estimates indicate the Energy Transition Plan will require about US$8 billion annually over the next five years, or roughly US$850 million per year, to achieve universal access.

The authority projects a total clean-energy investment need of US$325 billion and a financing shortfall of US$100 billion.