Charcoal Ban: Environmentalists Want Costs of Clean Energy Sources Subsidized

Environmental activists within the Acholi Sub-region are calling on the government to consider lowering the prices of alternative clean energy sources for cooking to curb over-dependence on wood fuel. This comes in the wake of charcoal scarcity following heightened implementation of Executive Order No.3 banning the commercial production, transportation and trade in charcoal in the Acholi Sub-region.

Last month, the army launched an operation that cut off the major supply routes used by commercial charcoal dealers exiting the Acholi Sub-region, resulting in a spike in charcoal prices. Within Gulu City, Charcoal prices have risen to between 70,000 and 80,000 shillings, a two-fold increase from 35,000 and 40,000 shillings.

George Ovola, an environmental activist with Our Trees We Need Answers a pressure group combatting the degradation of the environment says the charcoal price hike is beyond the average income of most locals in the region. Ovola says while gas and electricity are not an option for many households in the region, their prices remain abnormally high and unaffordable by most households within the urban and rural settings as alternative sources of energy.

“We need the price of electricity to be regulated so that we can all in urban areas use electricity, and cookers. The gas is very expensive, we don't make gas in Uganda, because I think we are still importing,” Ovola told Uganda Radio Network Wednesday. Currently, a six-kilogram gas cylinder within Gulu City costs 145,000 shillings while refilling the same cost 53,000 shillings at Total Energies while a six-kilogram Shell Gas cylinder costs 178,000 shillings and refilling at 50,000 shillings.

Ovola notes that with the government pushing for the ban on the commercial production of charcoal, it should consider carrying out advocacy on sustainable charcoal production for home use so that the supply chain isn’t cut off completely. “There must be more knowledge and advocacy from the government than putting total enforcement on the issue of charcoal. The locals must be sensitized that our environment is our responsibility so that they utilize it sustainably,” he said.

Desmond Anywar, an environmentalist and founder of Intergenerational Action on Environment says the free market economy still poses a major challenge in regulating prices of alternative energy sources such as gas cylinders. “The challenge is it would be a good thing to lower the prices or set a ceiling to a point where it's affordable for everyone but also in our market, there is no price regulation. Anyone sells at his or her discretion. If we have a market price regulation, it would have worked,” says Anywar.

He says electricity too remains another expensive alternative for many households in the region to use for cooking leaving many to rely on wood fuel energy. “Look at the cost of electricity, how many households are connected to electricity? I recently connected electricity to my house it is majorly for lighting, watching TV, and sometimes music but not for cooking because it’s expensive,” says Anywar. 

Anywar notes that while lowering the cost of alternative energy sources may not stop dependence on Charcoal production for domestic use, it opens an avenue for people to afford it. He believes that the best solution for the current charcoal crisis is for the government to regulate the production of charcoal for only domestic use which will in turn help fight the mass destruction of the forest covers in the sub-region.

In June this year, Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa told stakeholders at the launch of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) Northern Regional Offices in Gulu City said the government had already made progress in lowering the electricity tariff. Nankabirwa noted that the government had successfully reduced the electricity tariff to 5 cents US Dollars per unit and added that for the Karuma Hydro power station, once commissioned, power will be sold at 4.9 cents US Dollars per unit.

According to Nankabirwa, in a bid to lower the prices of gas cylinders, the government was already in the process of signing an off-taker agreement with Global Gases, a firm from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to establish a factory to manufacture gas cylinders from Uganda.

The factory is expected to produce 500,000 gas cylinders every year, which shall be distributed at affordable rates to locals in the country. “In the meantime, they (Global Gases) put money in the budget for 57,000 gas cylinders for this year. My target is to make sure that I focus on northern Uganda because already we are implementing the Directive of the President,” she said.

According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics report of 2021, 21 percent of Ugandans still depend on charcoal for cooking while 73 percent use firewood making wood fuel, the most relied-on source of energy for cooking. The Uganda National Household Survey 2019/2020 however shows that only 18.9 per cent of Ugandans have access to on-grid electricity mainly in urban areas.