Umeme staff of Soroti city are in the spotlight for using technical language to extort money from consumers for rural electrification, a government program, and during the private power reconnection resulting from instabilities caused strong winds and rain.

According to the locals, the distortion starts with inspection, where a consumer is rated based on the appearance of the structures in the home, and the demand for power, which has left the consumers mixed up and wondering about the operational ethics in the Soroti city Umeme office.

The Umeme consumers in the city who expressed their concern about the ongoing money extortion by the staff said that the team technically confuses consumers as a way to cause payment on the services that are catered by the government rural electrification program and Umeme at large.

“These staff do not attend to complaints in time as a way to call for high pressure from the consumers who are forced to pay for the services, and those who are unable to pay money to Umeme staff are marked and never given attention, yet they are parked in their offices, watsapping and discussing the names of those who do not want to provide transport facilitation,” one of the residents said.

Samson Okwii, who had visited a friend in Owalei cell, Opuyo ward in Soroti city on June 14, 2024, revealed that he overheard one of the Umeme staff telling his friend to raise around Ugx 120,000 for him to rectify the issue of loadshading in Owalei, which has been affecting the area to date.

Additionally, a salon operator in Omirio said that Umeme staff claim that the delays are caused by the government and Umeme management, thereby asking the consumers to opt for paying half the payment that is done in the bank.

“We are told to pay for the meter boxes, and after the payment, the same umeme will come and remove them, claiming an illegal connection was done. They also ask for transport and money to check on issues arising from the poles,” the salon operator said.

The management of Umeme in Soroti city has been accused of reluctantly not taking keen interest in following customers’ complaints caused by the corruption exercised in their service delivery, which has left the consumers with a clue that it’s a chain of distortion.