Voltage Instabilities, Phase Imbalances, and Power Theft Detected at USAFI Market

Background

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) is responsible for managing and maintaining public infrastructure across Uganda's capital, including markets, parks, roads, and municipal facilities. USAFI Market is one of Kampala's central trading markets, serving thousands of vendors and customers daily.

KCCA engaged Orijtech Energy to deploy energy monitoring at USAFI Market as part of broader efforts to understand and manage electricity costs across its portfolio of facilities. Large markets with diverse, informal electrical connections present particular challenges — varied loads, ageing infrastructure, and limited visibility into what is actually drawing from the supply.

What We Did

Orijtech Energy installed smart energy meters at the main incomers and key distribution points throughout USAFI Market. In addition to consumption monitoring, the system captured power quality parameters: voltage levels, phase balance, harmonic content, and demand profiles over time. Data was transmitted to the Orijtech Energy cloud platform for continuous monitoring and analysis.

What the Data Showed

Voltage instabilities: The monitoring data revealed recurring voltage instabilities — fluctuations outside safe operating ranges — occurring at specific times of day. These instabilities, if left unaddressed, risk damaging equipment connected to the supply and can, under certain conditions, create electrical hazards including fire.

Phase imbalances: The three-phase supply serving sections of the market was found to be significantly imbalanced — with load distributed unevenly across phases. Phase imbalance accelerates wear on motors and transformers, causes overheating, and in severe cases can lead to equipment failure and fire. The imbalances identified at USAFI were at a level that warranted urgent attention.

Power theft: Consumption data analysis identified anomalies consistent with illegal connections drawing electricity from the facility's supply without authorisation. The metering provided the evidence base needed for KCCA to investigate and address the theft.

Outcomes

The monitoring deployment gave KCCA actionable, evidence-based findings across three distinct risk areas:

1. Voltage instabilities were reported and remediated — protecting the electrical infrastructure and the market's thousands of daily users.

2. Phase imbalances were corrected — reducing the risk of equipment damage and the fire hazard they presented in a high-density, high-footfall public space.

3. Power theft was identified — enabling KCCA to take action on revenue leakage from its public infrastructure.

This case illustrates how energy monitoring serves not just cost objectives, but safety and governance objectives — particularly important for public sector clients managing infrastructure used by the public.

"The monitoring revealed risks we were not aware of. For a public market with thousands of visitors every day, identifying those risks before an incident was exactly the outcome we needed."