It was also discovered by Alhaji Kanja’s EDSA Investigating Team that an entity known as IPC operates as an independent power supplier in their compound with a meter system, which according to EDSA is illegal. Minister Sesay said EDSA is not aware of this.
Sierra Leone’s Electricity Distribution & Supply Authority (EDSA) headed by Minister of Energy, Alhaji Kanja Sesay, says the ministry is spending huge sums of money in purchasing power from the Electricity Generating & Transmission Company (EGTC) and Independent Power Providers (IPP) in order to meet the growing demand of electricity in Freetown and surrounding communities.
In an exclusive interview with AYV, Minister Kanja Sesay maintained that his institution is faced with serious challenges, including illegal connections, wrong tariffs, and multiple connections; and that the company has been running into huge financial loss due to the fraudulent acts of some customers. In simple terms: “electricity thieves.”
Also speaking to AYV, Dr. Joe-Lahai Sormana and his Deputy Ing. Francis Nyama, maintained that they conducted on-the-spot checks on business and commercial customers across various parts of Freetown, in what was described as a proactive move on the part of the Minister of Energy.
In an interview about EDSA Operations Officer, Dr. Sormana expressed his disappointment with most of the customers they visited; who were either on the wrong tariff or not in compliance with EDSA’s regulations and requirements with regard electrical connection and installation.
“We understand that it is our responsibility at EDSA to distribute power in a safe and reliable manner. It is important to note that EDSA does not generate nor produces power. We purchase power from EGTC and other IPPs and sell to consumers.
“We rely on the revenue generated from the sale of electricity to run our operations and supply electricity to the people of Sierra Leone. However, not being able to collect all our revenue from the sale of electricity makes it very challenging for us at EDSA to continue to supply electricity.
“A huge amount of our revenue is lost due to illegal abstraction of electricity, customers being on the wrong tariff category and paying less than they should be paying for electricity; and multiple customers feeding from a single meter are issues that we are now addressing,” Dr. Sormana said.
According to EDSA sources, the investigating team discovered among other shocking things that some business houses such as supermarkets and hotels that should be operating on Tariff Band Two to Four are registered on Tariff One, which is the same tariff as domestic consumers.
He admonished defaulters not to tamper with their electricity connection; as to do so is a crime and that EDSA will soon start disconnecting consumers, if they fail to adhere to the law. He assured that the on-the-spot checks will not stop until they sanitize the energy sector.
