This archive report was first published on 9 May 2020.
On Saturday morning, Uganda and Kenya were hit by a simultaneous national power blackout, affecting many parts of both countries for over seven hours.
According to Umeme Limited, Uganda's main electricity distribution company, the power outage was caused by a nationwide supply disruption advised by Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL).
Umeme Limited issued a power outage alert on its social media pages, stating, 'We have been advised by our supplier, Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) of a nationwide outage. The UETCL Team is working to have the power supply restored. We shall keep you updated on progress.'
Kenya Power attributed the power outage in Kenya to a system disturbance on its transmission network at 5:49 am on Saturday, stating, 'Our engineers are working to identify and address the hitch towards restoring normal electricity supply.'
Both utility companies apologized for the inconvenience caused by the power blackout.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time both countries have suffered major blackouts. In January 2018, both Uganda and Kenya experienced major power outages due to system disturbances.
