About 70% of solar products on Ugandan market are substandard
The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has given dealers in solar products a grace period of two months within which they should clear shelves off substandard products.
This discussion emerged at an engagement meeting convened by the standards body at the Golf Course Hotel in Kampala on Thursday to interact with stakeholders on the issue on the issue of new standards.
According to Andrew Othieno, Manager Standards at UNBS, whereas there are some substandard solar products on the market, 70% of the solar products found on the market are substandard, thus the need for UNBS intervention to enforce quality standards.
He said Uganda has been using international standards but a few years ago, a committee composed of the traders, manufacturers, institutions of higher learning and consumers among others came up with Uganda’s standards. “The process started in October 2019. Committee started working in February 2020. However, Covid-19 interrupted it, so work went online and by October 2020, they had completed. The document has consensus within the committee but they have to go out because in the end, the draft standard has to be accepted and becomes a Final Draft Uganda Standards and it is presented before the UNBS board. If the board is happy, it declares and approves it as a Uganda standard,” Othieno explained the process leading to Uganda’s standards.
He revealed that the draft has been published in the Gazette (for two months) and will require an additional one and half month. If no complaint gets to the attention of the Ministry of Trade, Industries and Cooperatives, the documents shall be declared a Uganda Standards.
This will also mean that solar dealers will have to clear their shelves off substandard products because UNBS will be having the mandate to enforce the law but most importantly the capacity to test fake solar products.
Othieno said gathering voices on the document is the reason the standards body has had to convene meetings in Gulu, Mbale, Mbarara and Kampala.
Emmy Kimbowa, the Chairman of Uganda Solar Energy Association (USEA) said there is need for quality products on the market.
“Quality protects the consumer, a distributor and it is important to have the consumer have access to modern energy services in Uganda. What UNBS is doing isn’t going to crumble our businesses but strengthen it,” Kimbowa said, approving the move to have set standards in place.
The Resident City Commissioner, Hood Hussein, while addressing participants pledged to back UNBS in enforcement.
“We are setting a standard. You have been invited such that tomorrow when you are caught violating the standards, you were alerted. Some of you (distributors and sellers) who go against standards, the enforcement team is on high alert. One of the other challenges is connivance. That is being monitored closely. So, all of us here have a role to play to protect the consumers,” he said adding, “We shall comb every corner of Kampala to bring perpetrators of substandard products to book.”
KACITA Uganda Chairman, Everest Kayondo, while addressing stakeholders urged traders not to fear the standards.
“The two months is for the gazette. So, if you have an input you want to include, push your concerns to the ministry to have it embedded in the document. Otherwise, your containers coming have no problem,” Kayondo said, endorsing the standards. “I am impressed with this. I urge UNBS to have more of these discussions so that no one is left surprised.”
Mohammad Katende, a solar dealer wondered what would happen to their products when the two months elapse.
In response, Othieno said the standards body will sit with the distributor or seller to decide what next.
“If the available stock on the market doesn’t meet the requirement, we will sit with you down (if it’s labeled 30W yet our people, after testing, say its 20W, you will have to relabel it to make it 20W. Some of these can be addressed, some can’t,” Othieno explained.
Benon Bena, theOff-Grid Manager at Rural Electrification Agency explained why the government is fully behind quality solar products.
“Part of our mandate is to give rural areas access to electricity. One of the access is through solar,” he said, explaining: “We live in a scattered nature and the cost of extending that grid is very expensive and I think it is very evident that we cannot do that. Solar is the answer.”
He said, currently, Uganda’s connectivity stands at 24%.
“With lanterns, and so on, it goes to 52%. If we are to go far, we need a standalone system – solar. However, we have realized that there is a very big problem with solar. The quality is substandard. It is important that these standards are adhered to. The grid is primarily supposed to go to towns, not villages or rural areas. You can imagine paying 600, 000 without a pole for a person in a rural area to light 3 bulbs. Yet, a plug and play kit, where you have a panel, a charger and a battery all integrated so that someone even without technical knowledge can be able to fix it. We need these standards and will be enforced,” he said.
The minimum standard requirements require that batteries must not contain hazardous substances. Mercury or Cadmium are also prohibited.
According to UNBS, all electrical / electronic appliances must meet relevant and applicable consumer health and safety requirements specified in the standard.
Components, connectors, switches and accessories must be strong enough to withstand stresses and strains and operation cycles specified in the standard, UNBS said.
By Francis Otucu
