UNBS faults 50% of electricity meters as fuel pumps on Ugandan market release less fuel to clients

Standards agency, Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has said it last year discovered that 35 percent of electricity meters supplied on the Ugandan market were inaccurate and susceptible to cheating manufacturers while 15 per cent were meant to cheat domestic consumers.

According to Dr. Ben Manyindo, the ED of UNBS, 144,471 meters were verified last year against the target of 100,000 meters.

“Last year, we verified 144,471 meters against a target of 100,000 meters. 15 per cent of meters used by domestic consumers tested were to be inaccurate and susceptible to cheating customers while 35 per cent of meters used by industrialists and in large commercial set ups were found to be inaccurate and susceptible to cheating industrialists and manufacturers,” he said while addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre on Wednesday.

He said the meters were disabled and that corrective actions were recommended before they could be installed on the electricity distribution network.

12 per cent of fuel dispensing pumps cheat Ugandans

Manyindo further said that UNBS verified 15, 743 fuel-dispensing pumps where it was discovered that 12 per cent were under delivering fuel to customers thus cheating consumers while 8 per cent of the pumps were delivering more fuel thus cheating fuel retailers. “The culpable fuel station were penalised in accordance with existing regulations,” he said.

98 percent of fuel tankers have inaccurate measurements

In FY 2018/19, Manyindo said, UNBS verified 2,151 road tankers against a target of 3,000 where 98 per cent of road tankers coming into Uganda were found to be registering inaccurate measurements and that if they had not been apprehended they would have cheated oil depots to the tune of Shs9.6 billion due to manipulated five charts and dipsticks, which would cause business losses. “Without UNBS intervention, UNBS intervention oil deport owners would have lost Shs9.6 billion due to inaccuracies,” he said.

35 per cent of weighing equipment cheat Ugandans of money

He said UNBS verified 156,514 weighing equipment were verified against a target of 155,646. “About 35 per cent of total verified weighing equipment were cheating consumers. Without our interventions, customers would have lost Shs11.3 billion in inaccurate measurements,” he said.

32 per cent of weighbridges inaccurate

He said last year UNBS verified 79 weighbridges to ensure that they are measuring accurately of which 32 per cent weighbridges were found to be inaccurate.