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Uganda: Uganda Power Losses Highest in
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New Vision (Kampala)
23 July 2008
Posted to the web 24 July 2008
Ibrahim Kasita
Kampala
UGANDA'S power losses, which stand at 40% of the total capacity, are the highest in the Nile Basin area, the Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, has said.
"With total generation of about 250MW, losses of 40% mean that 100MW, including the expensive thermal power, ends up in losses," he explained.
"Compared to other Nile Basin countries namely Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt, Uganda has the highest power system losses," Bukenya said in a speech read by Henry Kajura, the second deputy prime minister.
He said Burundi follows with 24%, while the other countries' losses range between 18% and 20%.
Bukenya said for each percentage point of power loss, $3.2m (sh5.2b) is lost annually, while for the commercial losses (power theft is estimated at 20%), about $64m (sh104.3b) is lost annually.
"UMEME, too, will need to do major house cleaning work because their staff are involved in the malpractice. Reports on the ground are not encouraging," Bukenya said at a stakeholders' forum at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.
He said UMEME should reduce the time taken to connect new customers to the national grid to avoid tempting them to use kamyufus (quack electricians).
"There should be a thorough audit of power consumption of the large consumers because power theft is not limited to the small domestic consumers," Bukenya said.
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"UMEME must install other efficient technologies like pre-payment metres to address the problem of power thefts and failure to pay," he advised.
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