Gerald Bareebe
3 July 2009
Electricity consumers might be paying inflated bills after it emerged yesterday that the country's power meters have not been inspected in more than five years.
A senior official from the Uganda National Bureau of Standards said yesterday that Umeme, the country's power distributor, had blocked UNBS from inspecting the meters it uses to bill customers. Mr Deus Mubangizi, the quality assurance manager at UNBS, told Daily Monitor yesterday that the meters have not been inspected since 2004 when Umeme officials said they had their own internal mechanisms of certifying the meters.
"They sent us away saying they were going to audit themselves," Mr Mubangizi said. "You cannot certify yourself because you will be faced with a conflict of interest. You need somebody else who is not interested in your business to do this and this is our mandate which we were ready to execute."
Mr Mubangizi spoke to this newspaper after Members of Parliament on the Trade Committee, who were visiting the standards body, complained about the inconsistent billing by Umeme.
The attack on the power distributor was led by Masaka Woman MP Sauda Mugerwa (NRM) who said: "We have a thief in public. Umeme is busy stealing. For only three months, I was forced to pay electricity bills worth Shs1.5 million. This is absolutely impossible. We need a good competitor and UNBS should ensure that we have good solar panels."
While the MP's claims against Umeme could not be independently verified, Mr Mubangizi told Daily Monitor that UNBS, which enforces benchmarks standards in the country, wrote to the Electricity Regulatory Authority, ERA, after Umeme blocked its officials from verifying its meters. ERA, however, failed to resolve the stand-off.
Umeme's spokesman, Mr Edward Twine, declined to comment on the accusations.
The UNBS official said without independent verification and inspection of meters, consumers could be paying for more electricity than they actually use.
The new accusations come at a time when Umeme is at the centre of an investigation by the Police Anti-Fraud Squad over mismanagement of power tariff subsidies advanced by the government to make electricity more affordable to users.
The government has been spending about Shs100 million annually since 2005 sent to Umeme through the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd, most of it suspected to have been stolen through connivance with government officials. The revelations also come amidst widespread public outcry over high-power tariffs, inconsistent billing and poor services by Umeme.
Energy Minister Hilary Onek told Daily Monitor on Wednesday that the police investigation was meant to save power consumers from "excessive exploitation".
Meanwhile, UNBS has impounded counterfeit goods worth Shs300m. The goods include 500 bags of cement and seven shipping containers of fake merchandise which are being kept in Nakawa, Bweyogerere and Kawempe.
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