Tuesday, July 7, 2009
M2: Features July 7, 2009
Benefiting from illegal electricity connections
JOSHUA MASINDE
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/features/Benefiting_from_illegal_electricity_connections_87634.shtml
Jimmy is the caretaker of a residence in Mukwenda Zone, Kawempe Division. For about 10 years, even before he became caretaker, the residence had been glorying on the blessing of illegally connected electricity.
For all that period, they paid little or no bills to Umeme, since their electricity metre couldn’t indicate the watts of power used. In any case, Jimmy says that at various points, it was Umeme which owed them money.
However, their day of reckoning arrived when Umeme officials came calling after someone had tipped them of the illegal connection. “Umeme said someone reported us and we suspect it is the former caretaker, whom we had asked to repay the money he had swindled,” said a forlorn Jimmy.
The money amounted to about Shs2.5m but he is said to have repaid only Shs300,000. Umeme officials estimated the illegal connection to have been in existence for at least two years.
Umeme backdated the bills to two years and it amounted to Shs12m, which they warned that it either be paid or a legal option would be considered. But, after protracted negotiations, at which the culprits confessed the illegal connection was just a few months old, they settled at Shs2.5m, after which a reconnection was made.
Many culprits are yet to be caught, Jimmy admitted. Within the same area, there are many residences, homes and even maize mills, which connect power illegally and have never paid a single cent to Umeme. This has and continues to cost Umeme as they have to grapple with high operational and maintenance costs.
Some maize mills with not only illegal connections but also operating without licenses, are situated in banana plantations, hidden within dwellings. They often operate at night like one in Mukwenda, Kawempe in which they mercilessly utilise the stolen electricity.
The operators of such maize mills could at times be seen climbing electric poles, attached to a transformer, in order to connect power. There is an incident when the transformer was overloaded that it blew up and many residents in the area lost most of their electrical equipment due to the power surge.Though, such illegal connections are costing Umeme, those in the habit claim they can’t afford the high charges on electricity.
This has nevertheless, sometimes driven Umeme to increase power costs to exorbitant rates. At times, they are even forced to overcharge most of their loyal customers, as Abiaz attests.
“They look at your building and set the price for you,” says Abiaz, whose family was once a victim of such exaggerated power costs, despite meeting their past bills religiously. He says nobody was staying at home during that month but they received a bill of about Shs1.6m.
However, he adds that when they brought the case with Umeme officials and when the metre was crosschecked, the bill dropped to about Shs70,000.
But Abiaz says the owner of the former residence where he rented a room, was also surviving on illegal power connection. But, the owner could not allow tenants to use electric coils while cooking or boiling water, to cover any suspicion from Umeme.
