Prime
Umeme error: Consumers protest Yaka deductions
A man inputs a Yaka token number. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- Many Yaka domestic customers pay Shs10,000 at the beginning of the month to benefit from the 15 unit discounted at Shs250.
Many consumers using prepaid vending electricity system dubbed Yaka are up in arms after receiving less units this month than they got in December at the same price.
Since April 1, many Yaka meter users have been getting less units than they paid for.
Many power consumers took to social media accusing the power distributor of cheating, an allegation they deny.
One Yaka consumer, who requested not to be named, said he paid Shs10,000 in December 2020 and got 16.8 unit. The same happened in January, February and March, but in April, he got only four units after paying the same amount of money.
When he contacted Umeme, they said: “There was a double charge of service fee on your account during our system migration, during the payments your account got the 15 discounted units of Shs250 twice. The service fee is being refunded, however, at the same time we are recovering the money worth the units.”
However, Umeme spokesman Peter Kaujju said they had, in error, given more Yaka units to their prepaid customers in December 2020, than they paid for.
“In December, while maintaining our system, some customers got more units than they paid for. We are correcting the error,” Mr Kaujju said yesterday in a telephone interview.
Umeme has not shared the number of people affected.
Despite the explanation and calculations by Umeme on their social media platforms, many of their customers are still insisting that the figures aren’t adding up.
PAYMENTS
Yaka
Many Yaka domestic customers pay Shs10,000 at the beginning of the month to benefit from the 15 unit discounted at Shs250.
However, they are charged a monthly service fee of Shs3,360 and 18 per cent Value Added Tax on the entire payment. If no payment is made in a certain month, service fee accumulates as arrears and it is deducted first once the next payment is done.
Each unit above the first 15 discounted units cost Shs750.9.
