Monrovia – When the new management of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) took over, it initially struggled to deal with power theft that created a lot of deficit of over US$300,000 every month.
But when it immediately launched a power theft campaign to curb the ‘menace’, significant strides were made in cutting these loses and raising more revenue.
The constant arrest of bigger businesses for power theft shows the extent of loses the corporation have experienced.
Now, the new LEC management headed by Foday Soko Sackor is bent on ending power theft, and while on a tour of Sinkor – inspecting meters, Sackor and his anti-power theft team discovered a huge theft in the Comprehension Reality Corporation compound which hosts the allfrica.com news house.
The compound, which also houses over 15 apartments, has been by-passing the meter system for over a year, the LEC says.
The team, also accompanied by police officers, arrested some of those involved, and threatened to prosecute them.
“Those involve will go to jail; we have made over three hundred arrest,” Sackor said.
“You can be collecting money from this property and don’t want to pay government revenue. LEC will fine those caught in power theft and they will also pay back government revenue.”
The famous Monoprix Supermarket was recently caught bypassing the meter – a device responsible for monitoring the power usage of a consumer.
Another business on Benson Street, Monrovia – opposite Monoprix supermarket, was also caught with 100 freezers connected illegally.
According to LEC, battling power theft is probably the toughest part of their job and it remains the corporation’s greatest challenge in term of revenue generation.
And the LEC Boss has stressed the importance of the communities’ support in curbing this situation.
“This is something we have been tackling and we have realized that LEC cannot do it alone, we need the community,” he said.
Sackor said due to the wave of power theft, the corporation is considering cutting connection for months, from areas heavily involve with power theft.
The new LEC has made some impact by arresting several thieves and it continues to intensify the anti power theft campaign across Monrovia. But the management is also looking for a legislation that will have tougher punishment for offenders.
Earlier this month, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf informed the Legislature that there’s not much punishment for people caught in power theft – an action which deferred government’s revenue into the pockets of unscrupulous individuals.
In her communication, Johnson-Sirleaf showed that an average of 35 persons was arrested on a daily basis for power theft, and some were going through court proceedings.
She informed lawmakers that it is important to strengthen the electricity law by amendment, to ensure people caught in power theft are severely punished. This, the President added, will serve as deterrent.
“I see these illegal actions as economic sabotage, holding back our overall national development and the growth of our economy,” Pres. Sirleaf asserted in her communication to the House.
She noted that Liberia ranks among one of the highest in the world in terms of power losses, amounting to 47% of which 33% is attributed to power theft.
As a result of LEC campaign, many residential and large business concentrated areas have been found into illegal connections, resulting to the loss of millions of dollars.
The President hailed the anti theft campaign, which she said impacts the reliability of the system, overloading transformers beyond its carrying capacity, causing blackouts and electrical fires and posing a serious risk to public safety.