Millers in Hoima town have hiked charges for their services in response to the removal of electricity subsidies.
The millers resolved to hike milling charges during a meeting held in Kiryatete on Monday. They noted that given a hike in power tariffs coupled with the price increase in the inputs, they are operating at a loss and need to hike their milling charges to break even.
John Olimi Nyabongo, the Chairman Kiryatete Small Scale Industries Limited told journalists shortly after the meeting that rising milling charges is the only way their businesses can survive given the high cost of operation.
He revealed that they incur a lot of expenses on buying fuel, spare parts and other inputs. According to Nyabongo, they have now increased their milling charges by 100-150 shillings per kilogram with immediate effect.
But the resolution has taken customers by surprise.
Harriet Birungi says the resolution was hastily implemented without notifying them as customers. The dealer in maize flour says she was surprised when a maize miller informed her of the new charges.
Uganda Electricity Regulatory Authority last week announced a hike in power tariffs as a measure to sustain the operations of the energy sector.
The new power tariffs hike that took effect on Sunday, have affected power consumers who are now looking for ways of compensation by hiking charges too.
