In sub-Saharan Africa, scenes from the early days of the electric cooperative movement in America are being replayed.
Like U.S. farmers in the 1930s and ’40s, people in Liberia, Uganda, and Zambia are partnering with NRECA International to prove once again that the co-op model can bring light to remote rural communities that are largely ignored by private investors.
And they are beginning to overcome skepticism from some government officials and lending institutions about whether rural residents with limited education and experience can govern their own power companies.
“The first day we went to see the [government] regulators, some laughed at us,” recalls Charles Matovu, general manager of the Kyegegwa Rural Electricity Cooperative Society, located about 120 miles west of Kampala in Uganda. “They said, ‘I can’t believe they think they can do this.’ Even the community members could not believe that we the people could manage this business.”
Co-ops have a long history of overcoming doubters, says Dan Waddle, senior vice president of NRECA International.
“In the U.S., the first option was not to create electric co-ops,” he says. “The government offered loans to investor-owned utilities in urban areas to go out and serve rural communities, but very few of them took those loans. The co-op model was their second choice.”
It took a great deal of public education, Matovu says, to convince his community that electric co-ops could work as successfully as they have in the U.S. and other nations throughout the world, including the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Latin America.
Today, KRECS, which began operating a decade ago, serves about 9,000 people connected to the national grid. Last year, NRECA International co-financed a solar-powered minigrid with CoBank to provide power to 120 homes in a small farming village about 20 miles from Kyegegwa.
Power from the co-op has allowed people to start their own small businesses, use computers inside their homes, keep food and drinks refrigerated, visit internet cafes, do schoolwork at night, and undergo treatments at local medical centers, Matovu says.
New schools, religious centers and government offices have opened as a result of economic development spurred by access to electricity, and there is growing demand to expand the co-op’s service.
“There’s been a big change in the lifestyle of people,” Matovu says. “People do believe in co-ops and appreciate them now.” – NRECA
