Monrovia – Commencing Monday March 12, Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) will commence a major campaign to disconnect those customers who owe large debts to LEC and those consumers who are illegally connected to its electricity distribution network.
LEC staff will also carry out an inspection of installed electricity meters and it is also intended to disconnect those customers who are illegally bypassing or tampering with their LEC meters.
It is LEC intention to prosecute, in accordance with the full rigours of the law, those consumers found to be stealing electricity or to have tampered with meters.
In addition to the outright theft of electricity committed by those connecting illegally, these illegal connections also overload the network, causing transformers to burn out, damaging LEC infrastructure and thereby depriving legal customers of electricity supply, often for long periods, because LEC does not have the financial capability to purchase replacement equipment.
LEC will commence this disconnection operation on the morning of Monday 12th March in the Sinkor area of Monrovia and will deploy a number of well-equipped teams to ensure the effectiveness of the operation.
It is LEC intention that this campaign will be expanded and continued across its entire network in due course.
LEC commercial losses are approximately 49% and this extremely high level of losses is having a hugely negative effect on the corporation’s ability to carry out its day to day operations.
Because of this unsustainable level of losses, resulting in an extremely low income stream, LEC is limited to purchasing only emergency supplies to repair network faults.
The corporation is unable to purchase equipment and materials to extend its network and connect new customers and is accordingly almost totally dependent on Donor agencies to fund this vital element of its operations.
LEC has appealed to all its customers to pay their bills on time, to refrain from connecting illegally and to advise LEC of anyone requesting sums of money to facilitate connection to the electricity network.