By Mabinty M. Kamara
The reappointed Director- General of the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) has expressed optimism over the Utility Company’s financial viability and efficient service delivery.
Speaking to Politico in an interview last Friday, Joe-Lahai Sormana PhD said one of the main challenges faced by his company is the fact that they are spending more to purchase power than they are selling to their customers.
"We buy our power in US dollars at a current average of about 21 US cents and at the current selling rate, we are selling at an average of 11 US cents. So right off the belt, we cannot even break even just from buying and selling,” he said, adding that any prudent businessman or woman would tell you that at the bare minimum, you should be selling at your buying price.”
He attributed the $40 million debts owed the Turkish Power ship which recently led to a shutdown of their services to the country, to the low-income generation of the company and the devaluation of the Leone over the USD and a flawed system both technically and in the commercial area, citing electricity theft among others. “And I am going to be very honest about this, the amount of light that is stolen either by consumers on their own or by consumers in collusion with EDSA staff is also making the issue worse for us,” he said.
A recent Correspondence between EDSA and the Electricity and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) that went viral on social media indicated the Utility Company’s request for an increase in tariffs from $11 cents to $12 cents. This however attracted criticisms from the public, citing the current economic hardship in the country and the company’s ‘inefficient service delivery’ due to unstable power supply.
However, Dr. Sormana said that he is sure that the regulators will not just approve based on the price that they want but rather on a formula that will look at what is fair for both the authority and the consumers. He added that the proposed tariff will ensure financial viability and independence for effective service delivery through the reduction of limited Networks and minimized frequency and duration of power shortages.
He added that on the part of the authority, they are working on restructuring their systems and processes to minimize the leakages identified.
“What we are trying to do is to see how we can utilize the resources that are available to us to efficiently deliver service to our customers and at the same time make sure that we are recovering as much money as is possible from our sales,” he said.
He assured that the tariff increase will help EDSA extend and increase the amount of power that can be distributed across the country.
“The intermittent power shortages, at this point, I cannot assure we can eliminate but definitely, we are aware of it and we are not happy about it. So there are constant efforts by the authority to minimize the frequency of these outages and also minimize the durations of these outages,” he assured.
To address some of the leakages internally, the Director- General said they will be looking at their systems and processes to ensure that they are uniformed, thorough, and adhered to.
He added that they are also trying to have a changed mindset within the authority's workforce so that they can have a sense of ownership of the institution instead of viewing it as somebody else’s business.
“For me, it a thing of how do we ensure that the mindset of our people are recalibrated to move from I am an employee to that of I am an owner and how do I protect it,” he said.
With fixed systems and processes and a willing workforce, the utility service provider’s boss expressed optimism that over time, they will make significant progress that will minimize their reliance on government subsidy.
He applauded the government through the Ministry of Finance for the support, noting that they are aware that they are also constrained “so we are hoping to start improving on our loss reduction efforts and increase on our revenue collection efforts to ease the burden on the Ministry of Finance in terms of how much they have to give to subsidize their activities”.
Coming in for the second time as head of the company, the DG said he is committed to doing his job and that a lot is going to change in terms of working together with the staff, and the board to achieve their goals
He expressed gratitude to the leadership of his supervising ministry, the Ministry of Energy, for the relentless support to ensure the authority’s success.
An engagement on the 21st September to discuss the proposed tariff increment brought together various stakeholders including the Sierra Leone Labour Congress, the Consumer Protection Agency Sierra Leone, the Consumer Protection Council, Sierra Leone Standards Bureau, the 50/50 Group, Africell and the Ministry of Information and Civic Education.
In his presentation, EDSA’s Chief Finance Officer, Mustapha Sannoh stated that the tariff of consumers in the provinces is three times higher than those in the Western Area.
He went on to assure that with the increase, EDSA would provide reliable and quality electricity as well as address the technical faults, improve its finances and that by the end of the year the provision of electricity would improve from the peak load of 70 to 100 megawatts.
He commended the government for doing extremely well in providing 26 million dollars to EDSA this year alone, saying they want to reduce government subsidies completely.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (25/09/23)
