BY Hassan Osman Kargbo
The Director General of the Electricity Distributions and Supply Authority (EDSA), Joe-Lahai Sormana, has confirmed to press men that EDSA is not generating light rather EDSA is also buy light from a sister company in the country.
He made this disclosure at the Ministry of Information and Civic Education weekly press conference, held at the Ministry of Foreign Affair and International Cooperation at Tower Hills Freetown.
According to the Director General of EDSA, they are not generating any light as a company rather they are buying light to EGTC, karpowership etc. so that they could sell it to the general public. He confirmed that EGTC they are generating power and EDSA is only there to distribute and supply the power that EGTC or other companies had provided to them.
He continued that t they are buying more light from their sister’s company than what they are selling at EDSA, adding that they are buying huge quantity and sell in a smaller quantity reason being that some community people are seriously engaging in electricity thief in the country which he said is seriously affecting the smooth running of EDSA.
‘We are buying huge quantity of electricity and sell in smaller quantity. We are charging our customers lower than how we buying the electricity,’ he said.
He mentioned that EDSA and the government of Sierra Leone had done a lot when it comes to electricity in the country, noting that in 2018 the electricity access in the country was about 16% but at present the electricity access has improved drastically to 36% which he said it is a massive improvement.
DG Sormana admitted that due to the current population in the city, Freetown needs over 120MW but the network could only safely send about 70-75MW which he said they can’t go beyond their current limit at the moment because they could there would be a big disaster and as such people should understand their current situation as EDSA. But, he assured that work is currently ongoing to expand the network in the eastern and western parts of the city.
He added that it is really obvious that electricity is needed every day in the country that is why people are not seeing the hard work of EDSA, and he noted that they had been faced with many challenges as a company.
“We have done a lot over the years in terms of improving electricity in the country. The population in Freetown had increased and the demand for electricity over the years has also increased; the truth is that we can’t provide electricity for everybody in Freetown at the same time,’ he noted.
“If EDSA decided to give every single households electricity at the same time it could be a problem and that is the serious problem we have been facing at EDSA, but we always try to manage it,” he said.
