No Need To Increase Tariff… EDSA Will Recover 80% Revenue If
By
Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
As
the Ministry of Energy terminates PEC-Sierra Leone contract, officials of PEC
on Monday 14thNovember 2016 at the headquarters of the Sierra Leone
Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Campbell Street in Freetown, informed the
media that PEC-SL from January to October this year generated over Le7.7
billion as revenue for the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA)
and described the termination of the contract as unfair and uncalled for.
The
Chief Executive Officer of PEC-Sierra Leone Limited, Malador Sowe said if
PEC-SL installs 80% of their meters in the city, EDSA will recover over 80% of
their revenue and that there is no need for them to increase tariff. He
explained the need for smart meters in the country and how other countries such
as The Gambia are yearning for such.
Malador
Sowe admitted to journalists that there are challenges in the installation of
electricity meters as some people refused to allow their staff to access their
homes and that as per the contract agreement, EDSA supplied PEC-SL with the
number of houses to install meters per day adding that sometimes they could not
access some houses due to the absence of the occupants.
According
to Malador Sowe, PEC-SL wrote a letter to EDSA to submit the names of three
persons who would have access to the PEC system clarifying that since it is a
pilot phase, EDSA instructed that PEC-SL should only use one bank to see how
the project would work for which the UBA Bank was recommended.
Malador
Sowe said their system measures average electricity consumption per day and
that the amount available is the difference disclosing that their meters
measure the maximum demand and that no consumer can cheat the system revealing
that PEC-SL has so far installed 165 meters in Freetown adding that to
implement the Local Content Policy they have also employed 27 Sierra Leoneans
with plans to employ 100 in the coming months.
At a
press conference on Friday 11th November 2016, the Deputy Minister of
Energy I, Hassan Barrie highlighted reasons why EDSA has terminated the
contract with PEC Sierra Leone after the end of the pilot phase of the project.
The
Minister said after the unbundling of NPA, collection of electricity bills by
the EDSA was challenging, the reason it embarked on the installation of
post-paid meters which helped to increase revenue that then triggered EDSA to
invest in advance technology meters.
He
further revealed that EDSA advertised a bidding process that was won by PEC-SL to
implement the $ 6 million pilot phase for which 300 to 1000 Advance Meter
Infrastructure (AMI) should be installed in commercial areas and homes in the
Western Area.
He
went on to inform that the contract ended on 30th June 2016 and
according to the Deputy Minister, during the 6-month period, there where
challenges including the number of hours for top-up, to recharge on Sundays
since PEC has only one venue station, UBA Bank and that the company failed to
meet the target of installing the number of agreed meters.
The
Deputy Minister said they don’t know the units sold per month and that though
PEC claims that they have increased the amount of revenue generated, ‘this is
certain because there are certain times in the year when Bumbuna supplies a lot
of energy for which revenue will increase so when the supply falls, revenue
reduces. That does not mean it is their method of collection which is good.”
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