At least Shs. 19.2 billion is being lost monthly to power thefts in the Mt Elgon area.
Umeme Mbale region manager Edison Arinaitwe said power thefts by consumers in the districts of Mbale, Bududa, Manafwa, Sironko, Bulambuli, Pallisa and Budaka coupled with vandalism of poles and cables remains the biggest challenge in the region.
He explained that Umeme spends Shs 14 billion on average in replacement of vandalized wires and transformers and but we Umeme also loses, shs 85bn to power theft annually at national level.
He says despite the continuous operations conducted, the vice tends to take an upward trend resulting into deaths.
