{"id":5290,"date":"2026-11-13T10:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T10:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=5290"},"modified":"2026-11-13T10:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T10:24:23","slug":"senator-raises-alarm-over-fallen-power-lines-and-electricity-safety-in-rwanda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/13\/senator-raises-alarm-over-fallen-power-lines-and-electricity-safety-in-rwanda\/politics\/national\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator raises alarm over fallen power lines and electricity safety in Rwanda"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Senator Evode Uwizeyimana has questioned the quality of electricity distribution equipment in Rwanda, citing frequent outages during rainfall, fallen power lines and concerns about whether some electrical products on the local market meet safety standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in the Senate on Thursday, November 12, 2026, during the presentation of a report on government efforts to expand electricity access, Uwizeyimana said power interruptions were common in parts of Kigali, including Kicukiro District, where he lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that whenever it rains, electricity often goes off, with explanations from local Rwanda Energy Group (REG) officials pointing to fallen power lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen it rains, you sometimes get the impression that electricity also goes into hiding,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The senator questioned why some electricity cables were routed through trees or attached to wooden structures, asking whether the materials used could withstand harsh weather conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He contrasted the situation with older metal electricity poles, which he said he had not seen fall, and called for scrutiny of the quality of newer distribution equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uwizeyimana also raised concerns about fires reported in different parts of the country, asking whether investigations had examined the possibility that some incidents could be linked to substandard electrical products on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did not present evidence establishing a link between the fires and electrical equipment, but said the possibility warranted investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond safety and reliability, the senator questioned whether Rwanda would meet its target of providing electricity to all households by 2029, given the remaining time and challenges in supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Senate Committee on Economy and Finance said household electricity access had risen from 78.9% in 2024 to 88.3% in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its report shows that 3,273,772 households now have access to electricity. Of these, 2,348,087 receive power through the national grid, while 925,685 use off-grid solar systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Committee chairperson Senator Fulgence Nsengiyumva said the country\u2019s electricity generation capacity had increased from 406 megawatts in 2024 to 472.4MW, with eight projects expected to add a further 523MW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee\u2019s vice-chairperson, Senator Dr Nyinawamwiza Laetitia, said Rwanda was close to achieving universal household electricity access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report gives the country’s current generation capacity as 472.9MW, including 366.8MW generated domestically and 106.1MW imported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senator Evode Uwizeyimana has questioned the quality of electricity distribution equipment in Rwanda, citing frequent outages during rainfall, fallen power lines and concerns about whether […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,41,34,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current_affairs","category-hot_topics","category-national","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5290"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5297,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5290\/revisions\/5297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}