Power theft loss rises to Shs100b

Kampala.

The amount of money lost due to power theft including non-payment of bills, vandalism and illegal connection has risen to annual average of Shs106 billion annually from an average of Shs73b in 2014.

According to power distributor, Umeme, the power losses distort the performance of the company and keep the cost of electricity high.

The Bugisu sub-region – serviced by the Umeme Mbale regional office – remains the hotbed of the power theft, topping all other regions in the country.

“Fifty one per cent of the losses we incur are from the Bugisu sub-region, which has a high number of power thefts and vandalism. This consequently cripples our expansion and profitability,” said Mr Trevor Kigenyi, the Umeme regional manager North Eastern Uganda, said at a stakeholder’s engagement meeting with the Bugisu Parliamentary caucus at Sheraton Hotel Kampala last week.

He said the power distributor loses Shs36b in power theft from the sub-region alone each year and as such, more than 50 people die in the region annually as they try to connect power illegally.

Power losses in the districts of Manafwa and Bududa districts amount to Shs5.5b, Sironko Shs4.5b, Bulambuli Shs4.1b and Mbale Shs3.6b among others.

Some of the vandalism has resulted into erratic power supply to businesses in the sub-region. Additionally, the region experiences some of the lowest collections, with arrears totaling Shs5b annually.

As at the end of June, power losses attributed to technical and commercial had dropped to 19.1 per cent, from 19.2 per cent over the same period in 2015.

If power losses remain high, then it also has implications on the final tariff to consumers because the loss sharing is both distributor and consumer.

Mr Sam Zzimbe, the executive director, Umeme also said the company had reduced losses from 38 per cent to 19 per cent which is an equivalent of $500m (Shs1.6 trillion) saved in terms of losses.

However, “Our target is to reduce the losses to 14 per cent by 2018,” he said. While addressing members of the Bugisu parliamentary caucus, he appealed to them to work closely with Umeme by sensitising their people and strengthening legislation in order to combat power theft and vandalism. “We have done a lot to refurbish the network in the Mbale area,” he said.

There has been a nationwide campaign to crack down on vandalism and illegal connections which were costing the power distributor billions of shillings in losses.
It is estimated that 60 per cent of all power outages in Uganda are attributed to network interference, hooking and vandalism.

The numbers

Shs1.4 trillion
The amount of money Umeme has invested in upgrading substations and refurbishing the networks to minimise power theft.