KAMPALA – The Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited (UEDCL) has announced the restoration of its light token vending system, hours after a major crash on Saturday, September 20, 2025, had threatened a nationwide blackout.
The update was communicated in a formal statement signed by Mr. Jonan Kiiza, the Head of Corporate and Stakeholder Affairs. While confirming the system is back online, the company cautioned customers that services are not yet running smoothly.
“Heavy traffic and a significant backlog” are causing delays for customers attempting to purchase tokens through telecom mobile money platforms, the statement read. UEDCL has appealed for continued patience from the public as its technical team works to achieve “full system stability.”
The restoration will come as a relief to millions of Ugandans who were abruptly cut off from purchasing electricity earlier in the day. The initial failure had sparked fears of prolonged blackouts as prepaid meters ran out of credit with no means to replenish it.
This incident is the latest in a series of challenges that have plagued UEDCL since it fully took over the national power distribution network from Umeme in March 2025. Customers across the country have endured persistent blackouts, system overloads, and an intermittently faulty token vending system for months.
A System Under Strain
UEDCL has previously attributed these recurring problems to a critical combination of factors:
· Aging Infrastructure: The company inherited old and deteriorated distribution facilities from the previous operator.
· Surge in Demand: Growing electricity consumption has pushed substations to operate beyond capacity, often necessitating deliberate load-shedding.
· Vandalism and Theft: The ongoing theft of critical equipment like power poles and transformer oil continues to damage infrastructure and cause outages.
· System Malfunctions: Technical glitches, like the one experienced today, have periodically crippled the essential token purchase platforms.
Path to Recovery
In response to mounting public frustration, UEDCL has outlined broader measures to stabilize the national grid, including substantial infrastructure upgrades, clearing a backlog of over 127,000 pending connections, and a campaign against illegal power connections.
For now, while the immediate crisis has been averted, the company’s warning of delays underscores the ongoing fragility of the system as it struggles to handle the pent-up demand following hours of downtime.
