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Paper short abstract:

Focusing on how unstable electricity supply in rural northern Uganda propels investments in alternative sources of electricity such as solar panels and diesel generators in households and businesses, this paper discusses end-users’ role in driving energy transitions in Africa.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on the transition that followed in the wake of the electrification of a small trading centre in northern Uganda in 2016. Widespread electrification is a political priority in Uganda, envisioned to address both the need for socio-economic development in rural areas and the transition to renewable forms of energy (most of the electricity generation in Uganda is hydropower). Over the past 20 years, the rural electricity access rate has grown from around 1 percent to around 25 percent. However, in many rural areas unstable and unpredictable electricity supply is the standard. Based on ethnographic research in 2019, this paper shows how electrification through the national grid initially broke its promise of development and economic prosperity at the same time as it set in motion a transition that was driven by connected household and businesses’ needs and wants. To mitigate the effects of unstable electricity supply, which disrupted newly adopted work and leisure activities that relied on the constant flow of electric current, people invested in solar panels and to lesser extent diesel generators that they then used in combination with the grid. Interestingly, this end-user-driven transition partly realized the development potential associated with electrification: it sustained new businesses that could provide services to people locally and it provided light and entertainment through television sets in homes. Against this ethnographic background, the present paper discusses end-users’ role in driving energy transitions in Africa while questioning any linear conceptualization of such transitions.