Umeme gifts Busia new service centre

The LC5 Chairperson of Busia, Stephen Wasike Mugeni has asked Ugandans to buy shares in Umeme to benefit from the good performance of the utility.

Wasike, while speaking at the opening of the Busia Service Centre this week said Umeme’s performance over years was glowing and the locals should be part of the success by buying shares since the company is listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange.

"People in Busia are grateful that Umeme is now responding to their issues. This new Service Centre will address most of the issues previously raised by residents who had to trek over 60km to Tororo to access Umeme services," he said.

Umeme’s Managing Director Selestino Babungi said Busia as a border point is very strategic with tremendous economic potential.

"This is a step in the right direction to support business growth in this community. Opening our first service centre in Busia reaffirms our total commitment to bring services closer to our 11,000 customers in Busia, serve them better and save them the time and unnecessary costs of having to journey over 60km to the Tororo service centre," he said.

Babungi said Busia consumes over 1 Gigawatt hours of electricity out of the 300 Gigawatt hours of electricity sold across Uganda.

He also cautioned the residents against vandalizing public infrastructure and also desist from connecting illegally to the grid.

The district's energy losses currently stand at 20 percent of the power transmitted from the Tororo substation which is significant.

The Busia RDC Rex Aachilla said the service centre is very timely and is coming at a time when the district is in the process of setting up a $ 16 billion gold mining factory.

"Busia is very strategic not only because it’s a border town but is also home to many thriving Enterprises. We have set up a free export zone which will need power, the gold mining company will also need power and all the businesses operating in the district," he said.