KAMPALA. One person is confirmed dead after a high power voltage electricity tower collapsed in Mukono District.
Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Limited (UETCL) , the national power distributor say has launched investigations into the collapse of several transmission towers on the 132kV Owen Falls–Mukono North and Mukono North–Namanve South lines – an incident authorities say was caused by vandalism.
In a public notice issued on Wednesday, the power utility said the towers came down at 03:02am, cutting off electricity supply to the Mukono North substation and leaving parts of the district experiencing interruptions.
UETCL confirmed that one person died during the incident.
The Uganda Police Force has since opened an inquiry to establish the circumstances under which the fatality occurred and to track down those responsible for tampering with the electricity infrastructure.
Uganda’s power sector has in recent years recorded a surge in vandalism cases targeting transformers, transmission lines and tower members, with the Energy Ministry reporting more than 250 incidents annually.
UETCL estimates losses exceeding Shs7 billion each year, while vandalism-related outages continue to affect businesses, hospitals and households across multiple regions.
“Our technical team has been dispatched to assess the damage and restore supply in the shortest time possible,” UETCL said, adding that all necessary emergency measures had been activated to limit the outage’s impact on consumers.
The utility urged members of the public to remain vigilant and immediately report any suspicious activity around power installations to nearby police stations.
“Vandalism not only interrupts power supply but also poses a serious danger to human life,” the company warned.