The Trouble with Top Gear: Rural Electrification in Uganda

For many people, the most recent insight into daily life in Uganda has come from the voice of Jeremy Clarkson. In April 2013, the Azuri team started a two-week trip to see what life was really like for our rural customers in northern Uganda. Spoiler alert: It was nothing like the Top Gear special.

Something that seemed odd about the Top Gear special was the quality- and quantity- of the roads. After complaining about speed bumps, the boys manage to find a length of road long and neat enough to film generic car montage shots. Where they found that particular strip of untainted tarmac was a source of amazement to our hosts.

As we drove further North from Kampala, road quality deteriorated at an alarming rate. With each new stretch of road more pot-holed and dangerous than the last, the reality of locals having to get hold of the means for lighting “out in the bush” became a much more uncomfortable issue- literally. Still, not as bad as rainy season, where guessing the depth of flooded potholes becomes the motoring equivalent of Russian Roulette.

Rural customers face a serious dilemma. It’s not just the price of the kerosene they’re using that contributes to their energy cost per week; it’s also getting to the nearest petrol station to purchase it.

One Mama told us that she spends 1800 Ugandan Shillings a week on kerosene, and 10,000 Ugandan Shillings on a boda-boda (motorbike taxi) to take her there. Now Mama can spend less than half the cost on a weekly top-up scratch card from the village Indigo Ambassador and receive her lighting without wasting half a day travelling. She doesn’t have to leave the house to charge her mobile phone, so it can stay on all day in case she gets a message from her son in town. She’s very excited about charging her neighbour’s mobile phones for a bit of extra cash, too.

In a year, Mama will have saved $140 US dollars on her lighting alone. It’s enough for travel and accommodation for a three day minibreak in Gulu, the nearest big town. Or 12 goats. Or savings for her children to go to school.

Mama’s home electrification journey started with lighting and mobile phone charging, but she’s got something bigger in her sights. The day her Indigo unit can be used to power a television, Mama will be able to watch shows in her own home, 20 miles away from the nearest national grid connection. Wonder what she’ll think of that Top Gear Uganda special…

Pippa Bransfield-Garth

In-house blogger, Azuri