Monrovia – The Liberia Electricity Corporation says it loses over US$300,000 monthly to power theft, as it lead a team in several communities to uncover illegal connections.
Report by Al-Varney Rogers alvarney.rogersfrontpageonline.com
“To be honest with you, losses are between US$300, 000,” Deputy Managing Director for Commercial Services Famatta Sirleaf told FrontPage Africa at the weekend raid.
Sirleaf said power theft was the corporation greatest challenges in term of revenue generation.
“This is something we have been tackling and we have realized that LEC cannot do it alone, we need the community,” Sirleaf said.
Sirleaf added that the LEC needed the community to serve as whistleblower in helping to curb power theft.
“This is a crime against the state; people don’t see it that way,” she said.
“We may not be able to pay our vendor on time, there has been a leakage in our revenue generation,” Sirleaf said.
Sirleaf continues: “These people want to enjoy the luxury of LEC and they do not want to pay for it; this has cause a serious problem on revenue generation.”
LEC DMD for Commercial Services said that power theft should be national concern, adding losses in revenue is getting high by day.
“This should raise a serious concern, the government needs to come in, our losses are getting high it range between 25 to 30 percent,” Sirleaf added.
“The team that we are sending on the field, we are wasting money and time those people should be doing something else,”
Sirleaf said the loss in revenue was one factor that was impeding the expansion of LEC supply of electricity to other community.
“Everybody is complaining. We want to improve our services but we need the community to help us, if these people were hooked up legally imagine what our revenue will be,” Sirleaf added.
Sirleaf explained that with the absence of legislation addressing power theft adding that prosecuting people caught in such act.
“We don’t have legislation in place to prosecute; with this power theft is getting high,” she said.
Sirleaf continued: “We check our vending history that is how we know people are illegally on our LEC lines.
This has been going on since 2012, we got some community just cannot paid.”
Sirleaf spoke on a tour with the Anti-Power Theft Crew of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC).
The crew indentified homes and business that bye-passed meter and they were immediately disconnected.
Perry Street and Gbangay Town are the worst power theft communities, the crew found out.
A resident of Perry Street Jerry Freeman said getting connected on LEC power was difficult, adding it was one of the reasons responsible for the theft.
Freeman said the LEC should be able to connect everybody in the community.
“You can’t be given other people current and you leave other people out,” Freeman said.
Support Independent Journalism
Your support helps FrontPage Africa continue delivering independent, credible, and impactful journalism. Every contribution strengthens our ability to investigate, inform, and hold power accountable while keeping quality journalism accessible to our readers.
Support our journalism or subscribe to receive the latest FrontPage Africa stories and updates.
