We cannot penalise Umeme for services failure - ERA

Kampala.

Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) has said it has no guidelines to punish electricity distributors such as Umeme for services failure.
In an email exchange over the weekend, Ms Diana Naisuna Nambi, the ERA principal communications officer, said they were aware of a number of challenges in the power distribution network such Umeme’s last week failing Yaka system but had no guidelines to penelise the power distributor in case of failure to sufficiently serve customers.
“The current regulatory framework does not directly provide for penalising the licensee for such a technical error [Yaka failure],” she said.
However, she added, ERA was in the process of developing a penalty mechanism to address issues such as last week’s Yaka system failure.
“Umeme is currently facing an indirect penalty through the revenues foregone due to inability of consumers to purchase tokens from the distribution utility,” she said highlighting that system failure, which lasted for almost a week, could have occasioned serious losses on the power distributor.
Daily Monitor could not independently verify if there was any loss as no data was provided to qualify the claims.
Last week a number of consumers had to brave through days without power following a failure in Umeme’s Yaka token vending system. A number of customers that Daily Monitor spoke to said they had at least spent four days without getting their token after buying Yaka through their mobile money accounts.
At the weekend, Mr Henry Kimera, the Consumer Protection Education Trust executive secretary, told Daily Monitor that it was unfair for ERA as the regulator to just look on as consumers suffer losses occasioned by the power distributor.
“ERA should begin to penalise service providers who take customers for a ride. People are losing money because the service provider has no clue and backup plan. So if this goes on for a month. Then what are the customers supposed to do?” he wondered.
Responding to ERA’s planned framework plan, Mr Sandor Walusimbi, the Umeme head of communication and marketing, said: “ERA has every right to take action. But this should not be rated against a technical or mechanical breakdown,” arguing that the penalties should only be effected if and only the power distributor fails to deliver on its primary objectives.
Asked how the system breakdown had impacted Umeme in terms of revenue, Mr Walusimbi said the losses were not important at the moment as focus had shifted to restoring the system.