By Sorie Ibrahim Fofanah
The Deputy Minister of Finance 1, Kadiatu Allie has disclosed that they will have to renegotiate with the management of Karpowership for a reduction in their charges for providing electricity service.
Kadiatu was speaking at the weekly press conference by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education on 30th April at the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s conference hall in Freetown.
“We will be in Turkey to engage with Karpowership to break the current agreement and do full-blown negotiation. We will negotiate in terms of the fixed payment that we have been paying them so that we will reduce the cost of energy and also will provide sustainable and reliable service to our consumers,” she emphasised.
She confirmed Karpowership’s willingness for the re-negotiation, adding “there is some understanding from their part.”
The Deputy Minister One noted that Electricity Distribution Supply Authority (EDSA) has been paying Karpowership for its service every month. “EDSA pays Karpowership every month 50 million New Leones,” she said.
Allie said the Ministry of Finance has paid over 36 million dollars to Karpowership over the last six months, and that the 17 million dollars recently paid by the ministry was not the only payment to the power producer. She emphasised they have been subscribing to Karpowership, recalling that in September 2023 they made a payment of 15 million dollars and that another payment of 4 million dollars was made in January this year. “The government recognises the importance of electricity,” the deputy minister added.
Speaking about illegal power abstraction, she called on all consumers to take individual responsibility as she stressed the consequences it brings. Allie ascertained that everyone suffers during outages, and called on consumers to pay electricity bills to keep the energy sector running. “If you see someone doing illegal electricity abstraction, alert the authorities,” she continued.
She pointed out that the Ministry of Finance will deduct budget allocations from Ministries, Departments and Agencies that fail to pay their electricity bills, to help reduce the arrears of EDSA and by extension the burden on government .
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