How CPDM gov't contributes to electricity blackouts!.

That may explain why apart from ENEO, which sells electricity, there are also corporations like the Electricity Regulatory Agency, ARSEL; and the Electricity Development Corporation, EDC, that manage water for all producers, develops electricity projects at the request of government, as well as the operation of some power plants like the Memve’ele Hydroelectricity Dam.

There is also the National Electricity Transmission Company, SONATREL, responsible for operating the transmission system, while the Rural Electrification Agency, AER, promotes and develops rural electrification projects all over the country, using the Rural Energy Fund.

With ENEO, ARSEL, EDC, SONATREL and AER, five state corporations responsible for electricity, one would expect that such "division of labour", will make management easy to provide quality, stable and efficient electricity in the country.

But the reality on the ground is power outage, fallen polls, haphazard connections that often lead to fire and low supply that at times is unable to put on a computer and above all no electricity in several parts of the country.

Last week, ENEO announced that as of December 31, 2022, the number of households and businesses supplied with electricity had increased to 1,917,553, for a population of some 28 million people.

It is a dismal result. To ameliorate and augment the supply, the Minister of Water and Energy Resources, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, last Friday laid the foundation stone for the construction of a mini solar photovoltaic power plant in the locality of Bindoumba in Djoum Subdivision, Dja and Lobo Division of the South Region.

The project, which is in its third phase and being executed by the Chinese Huawei Technologies, is intended to boost power supply nationwide.

The 87 localities to benefit have been partitioned as follows: seven localities each in Adamawa and East Regions; eight localities each in the North, Far North and Littoral Regions; twelve in the Centre and eleven localities each in the North West and South West Regions and five localities in the South Region.

According to the minister, no development is possible without sufficient and good-quality energy, which is why he explained that the Head of State, President Paul Biya, has, within his Vision 2035 for Cameroon’s emergence, put special focus on stepping up energy supply to provide the population with sufficient quality electrical energy. 

That wish has been like a utopian dream. As ENEO explained to reporters in Edea last week, considerable expansion and innovation to cope with rising demand, especially as it concerns satisfying the needs of the industrial sector, have been made. 

The Edea facility was upgraded, just as Songloulou, with government also consolidating with the construction of more dams.

The second phase that covers the period 2014 to 2023, saw the creation of reservoir dams like the Lom Panga and the Nachtigal, with the latter producing electricity with the sole intent of selling it to ENEO.

Meanwhile, Lom Panga has a reservoir that helps to supply additional water to existing dams in times of drought when other dams lack sufficient water to generate power.

Despite all that, ENEO conceded that the objective of providing sufficient energy, both in quality and quantity to users, has not been realised.

There is constant shortage of electricity, even in the nation’s capital, Yaounde. The principal energy supplier, ENEO, has put the blame at the doorsteps of Yaounde.

During the press briefing in Edea, ENEO management disclosed that government and its affiliated agencies owe electricity bills not less than 72 billion FCFA. 

If these funds were made available to the company, the management said, it would be better placed to execute projects that would improve overall production, transportation and distribution of electricity in the country.

The management of ENEO said when electricity poles rot, fall and cannot be replaced, the embarrassment should not be blamed on ENEO alone but on the overall technical, financial and human capacity challenges that face Cameroon as a whole. This, it said, implies that debts compound the management problems of ENEO.

How does the government expect ENEO and others to provide efficient services when it is owing such a whopping amount of unpaid bills? Isn't it the CPDM government that would have set an example in doing business by paying its bills regularly?

Isn't it hypocritical when government ministries, corporations and councils, owe ENEO as much as over 72 billion FCFA, yet expect it to supply constant electricity?

The Guardian Post is delighted that the CPDM government understands the importance of electricity in the socio-economic development of the country. To illustrate that, it should pay its bills on time, otherwise it will just be the main hindrance to the country’s socioeconomic development