Page 7 - AsianOil Week 29 2020

AfrElec INVESTMENT AfrElec

IFC invests $10mn in Globaltronics to expand

installation of digital meters in Egypt

NORTH AFRICA THE International Finance Corporation, the Prepaid digital meters improve billing
World Bank’s private sector arm, is investing accuracy and offer more convenient payment
$10mn in Globaltronics, Egypt’s leading supplier options. Prepaid meters also contribute to overall
and manufacturer of electronic smart grid solu- reduced energy consumption by making it easier
tions, to expand the installation of digital prepaid for consumers to track their energy use.
and smart electricity meters in Egyptian homes. Meanwhile, the IFC has invested $26.6mn in
The investment will help Globaltronics set up Tunisia’s One Tech Holding to develop its oper-
a new manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia and ations in Tunisia and Morocco that have been
increase its investment in research and develop- affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
ment to grow exports and develop new products. One Tech Holding, an IFC partner since 2008,
The investment will support the Egyptian is a leading supplier of industrial, power and tel-
government’s energy reforms to improve accu- ecommunications cables, as well as mechatronic
racy in billing, give consumers more payment components and modules used primarily in the
options and provide them with better informa- automotive sector but also in the industrial and
tion about their energy use in order to encourage medical sectors.
savings. The company’s factories – located in Tunis,
IFC’s financing will enable Globaltronics’ the capital of Tunisia, and Tangier in Morocco
local subsidiary in Egypt, which manufactures – will benefit from this support from IFC, which
electricity measurement solutions, to support will create more than 2,000 direct jobs as well as
government plans to replace outdated meters 2,400 indirect jobs in Tunisia, Morocco and the
with prepaid and smart digital meters as part of rest of the world.™
ongoing energy reforms.

TARIFFS

Uganda to keep power tariffs steady

UGANDA UGANDA’S Electricity Regulatory Authority it were not for the fact that Ugandan energy
(ERA) has reportedly identified sluggish crude demand dropped by approximately 20% in the
oil markets as the main factor underlying its second quarter as a result of the coronavirus
decision to keep electricity tariffs steady in the (COVID-19) pandemic, Monitor said. ERA
third quarter of 2020. usually reduces tariffs when demand is high in
ERA has the legal authority to revise the tar- order to encourage consumption, it explained.
iff schedule each quarter, and it sets rates on the As such, ERA has opted to maintain elec-
basis of four factors, Monitor noted last week. tricity tariffs at second-quarter levels in the
It named those factors as fluctuations in world third quarter of the year. In the second quarter,
market prices for fuel, the exchange rate of the Ugandan residential customers continued to
Ugandan shilling to the US dollar, the domestic pay UGX250 ($0.068) per kWh for the first 15
core consumer price index and the US producer kWh of electricity consumed and UGX750.9
price index. ($0.20) per kWh beyond that level. ERA also
Between February and May, the newspaper maintained its multi-tier tariff regime for com-
stated, three of these four moved in a direction mercial consumers at second-quarter levels, with
that would usually cause power tariffs to rise. small businesses paying UGX645.6 ($0.17) per
That is, the shilling lost value relative to the dol- kWh, medium-sized industrial concerns pay-
lar, while domestic core consumer prices and US ing UGX570.9 ($0.15) per kWh, large indus-
producer prices went up, it explained. trial concerns paying UGX361 ($0.097) per
Nevertheless, world crude oil prices followed kWh, extra-large industrial concerns paying
a different track, dropping from about $55 per UGX301.7 ($0.081) per kWh and operators of
barrel in February to around $25 per barrel in street lighting paying UGX370 ($0.10) per kWh.
May. This decline also brought the price of fuel ERA has indicated that it will try to avoid tar-
used by Ugandan thermal power plants (TPPs) iff hikes for the time being. Uganda’s government
down by such a significant amount that it out- hopes that low prices will encourage businesses
weighed changes in the other three categories. to bring production levels back up, according to
It might even have triggered price cuts if Monitor.™

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