Prime
Army joins fight against power line vandalism
Previously, the AG raised concerns about the huge sums of money that has been going towards the restoration of vandalised power transmission lines.
What you need to know:
- Vandals normally attack the lines and make off with the steel and the wires, typically for sale as scrap.
Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) has drafted the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) into the fight against vandalism on major power transmission lines in diverse parts of the country.
UETCL, which is charged with the responsibility of evacuating power using high voltage (220Kv and 132Kv) lines, uses steel for the construction of transmission lines. Vandals normally attack the lines and make away with the steel and the wires, typically for sale as scrap.
“The UPDF, the police and other government security agencies are all fully involved in the operations where vandalism is detected,” Mr Muhammad Lubogo, UETCL’s spokesperson, said.
The UPDF’s entry into the fray comes in the wake of the revelation by the Auditor General (AG) that they put the cost of restoring vandalised power lines at Shs8.4b. The AG’s report for the period ending June 2023 lists the restoration of the Owen Falls-Lugogo 132 Kv line, which suffered extensive damage, as one of the costliest that UETCL undertook.
The report also noted that ongoing projects like the Karuma-Kawanda and Bujagali-Tororo, which are aimed at strengthening the transmission network, have been pegged back due to, among others, land use conflicts.
Past vandalism
Previously, the AG raised concerns about the huge sums of money that have been going towards the restoration of vandalised power transmission lines. In the report for the year ending June 2022, for example, it was indicated that UETCL spent Shs500m on the purchase of galvanised angle bars to replace vandalised power towers. In the period between 2017 and 2021, the report noted, the firm spent at least Shs1.6b on the replacement of assorted transmission line items that had been vandalised.
Mr Lubogo further revealed that in sensitisation campaigns, communities in busy and vulnerable areas are being encouraged to monitor transmission lines in their areas as a way of ensuring the detection of vandalism in reareal-timel time.
UETCL has at the same time moved to install new close circuit television (CCTV) cameras with expanded coverage capabilities in, among others, Fort Portal, Mbarara North, Mbarara South, and Bujagali sub-stations.
The new measures come in place following the realisation that efforts, including legal action and previous security interventions, including the outsourcing of security services, had not helped to check cases of vandalism.
On April 13, 2022, Parliament passed the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which provided for stringent penalties, including a fine of Shs1 billion or 15 years in jail for anyone found vandalising electrical infrastructure, but acts of vandalism have continued.
It is largely in response to this that UETCL has now moved to start installing monopoles instead of lattice towers in areas where transmission lines are at the highest risk of being vandalised.
“The Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) provided Shs9b to procure monopoles for high-risk areas to replace the collapsed steel lattice structures along the 132 kV Owen Falls- Lugogo Transmission Line. This will be completed by 2025,” Mr Lubogo said.
Whereas monopoles are also made of either aluminum or steel, materials which vandals often target, they are considered less likely to attract vandals because they are self-supporting.
Huge maintenance bill
In a related development, it has emerged, despite the fact that Uganda has been annually allocating between $50 and $70m (Shs189b and Shs265b) on strengthening the electricity transmission network, Uganda has failed to realise its goal of ensuring 90 percent grid reliability per the AG’s latest report.
The report indicates that Shs11b had been lost due to replacement of vandalised lines and unplanned voltage interruptions and maintenance shutdown.
In yet another related development, a value-for-money audit carried out by the AG on the operation and maintenance of electricity infrastructure has revealed that more than 211 meters, including those in sub-stations, standalone units, and power producers’ categories, required urgent replacement. This, the AG adds, is due to among other reasons weak batteries and suspected accuracy drifts.
The same report, which covered the period ending June 2023, noted that 51 percent of the energy meters in power sub-stations, and 38 percent of standalone meters in the same sub-stations have been in place for more than the recommended 10-year period.
“This delay in replacement poses a significant risk of billing disputes, potentially leading to revenue losses and power supply interruptions, especially in strategic locations,” the report reads in part.
Some of the locations listed by the AG include Mpondwe, Katuna, Cyanika, KPLC1 132 kV transmission line at Tororo, and Kyaka transmission lines that are used in the export of energy to, among others, Rwanda and Kenya. Mr Lubogo told Monitor that the process of installing new energy metres is already underway.
“New 60 energy meters have been procured and replacement of the old energy meter is currently ongoing. The activity started with the Lugogo sub-station and shall cover all the nodes mentioned in the AG’s report,” Mr Lubogo said.
That would still leave a big deficit in terms of required energy meters, but Mr Lubogo said UETCL is engaging ERA to provide more energy meters in the next capital budget.
