In Uganda, Umeme which is an energy distribution network company in Uganda is set to spend US$ 24m on new sophisticated systems that will help curb the ongoing meddle with electricity meters which mainly occurs in industries.
Mr. Robert Frederick Mubiru, the project manager confirmed the reports and said that the advanced metering infrastructure is supposed to guard meters against vandalism in order to provide credible meter readings for billing the customer.
“Previously, we did not have a scientific basis upon which to tell whether a customer was stealing power. We would suspect vandalism and pounce on the premises because some of them would break our meters and remove the seals,” he said, adding that sometimes their own staff colludes with clients to cheat the company.
Mr. Mubiru pointed out that they had to take this initiative of investing heavily in their integrity so that they appropriately measure the electricity consumed by the customer to improve revenue collections and also since they consider the meter to act as their cash register.
The new technology will be very influential as it will enable the utility company to monitor electricity consumption by remote control because the infrastructure provides real time information on what is happening on the site and where it has been installed. Further to these, it also has the capability of alerting the area managers and supervisors about the incidents as soon as they occur.
Uganda, Umeme is the largest electricity distribution company in Uganda. It’s mandated is to Operate, maintain, upgrade and expand the distribution network; retail electricity to its customers and to improve efficiency within the electricity distribution system.
