Kama unatumia LUKU lazima unahaha sasa. Hivi inakuaje matatizo kama haya yanatokea. Sasa inabidi watu waende hapa na pale ili watafute sehemu ya kununua.
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Panic as LUKU meters collapse
2008-09-18
By Correspondent Felister Peter
Tanzania Electric Supply Company`s (Tanesco) automatic vending machines in Dar es Salaam collapsed on Monday, putting customers using pre-paid meters popularly known as LUKU at risk of going without power for days.
A survey conducted by this paper in the city up to yesterday afternoon showed that nearly all LUKU (pay-for-power-as-you-consume-it) vending stations have fallen dead since Monday night.
Services are said to have returned to normal on Tuesday night before collapsing again yesterday morning.
Tanesco Communication Manager Badra Masoud said in an interview yesterday that the problem was caused by technical faults in the network linking up the machines.
Technicians from the giant state-run monopoly have been making frantic efforts to solve the problem, she explained.
``Our technicians have been working non-stop to solve the problem to spare our esteemed customers a protracted blackout that would also adversely affect the company financially,`` noted Masoud, without saying how much revenue the company had lost following the system failure.
``I cannot at the moment say exactly how dearly the problem has cost us. I will be in a position to speak about it later because we need to make some computations first``, she added.
According to the official, only Dar es Salaam is affected and vending stations in all other regions where they are in use are functioning normally.
Dar es Salaam apart, the LUKU system is in use in Arusha, Dodoma, Mara, Mwanza and Shinyanga regions and several major urban centres elsewhere.
Our survey shows that Dar es Salaam has more than 100 LUKU vending stations and Tanesco technicians managed to restore services at Mikocheni station late yesterday.
Meanwhile, scores of people were seen moving from one vending station to another in a futile attempt to purchase emergency power. Most of those interviewed wondered why Tanesco was tight-lipped over such a sensitive development, the first of its magnitude to hit its LUKU consumers.
The LUKU vending machines first came into use in Tanzania in 1995, with most installed in Dar es Salaam. They were chiefly meant for residential and commercial consumers but they are used by several other segments of the public.
Most other Tanesco consumers still use conventional electricity meters but the company has not been able to give any figures.
As we went to press, Tanesco apologised to its LUKU customers who had failed to purchase vouchers at various selling points in Dar es Salaam after the sudden malfunctioning of its computer network.
``The problem first occurred at 11.00 am on Monday
and repeatedly occurred until today (yesterday) when it was eventually resolved,`` read the statement issued by public relations manager Badra Masoud.
The Tanesco management also informed customers who had unsuccessfully tried to purchase LUKU vouchers through the National Microfinance Bank and been erroneously debited, that they would get back their money.
The statement advised city power consumers to purchase LUKU vouchers at the following selling points:
-BP Posta/Upanga petrol station
-Fuel station at Swahili Street, Kariakoo
-Magomeni petrol station.
-Tandika Maghorofani
-BP Sinza Kijiweni
-Tegeta Kibaoni
-Buguruni filling station
-Oryx Fire filling station, Morogoro Road.
-BP Airport filling station
-Oilcom, Kijitonyama
The Tanesco management concluded by giving phone number 0783 313342 for queries in case of any problems.
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