By Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Joseph Essama
Published on 2024-02-13 16:25:31
The government is no longer hiding its fear of seeing outbreaks of unrest in Cameroon. In a letter from the Minister of Water and Energy addressed on February 9, 2024, to the CEO of Eneo, the exclusive distributor of electricity in Cameroon, Gaston Eloundou Essomba fears that the recurring interruptions in the distribution of electricity may lead to social unrest. “(…) It is important to remind you that these repeated power outages could lead to social unrest, for which you will be held responsible,” warns Gaston Eloundou Essomba.
To avoid this, Gaston Eloundou Essomba prescribes to the subsidiary of the British investment fund Actis to operate all hydroelectric power plants in an optimal manner. He also instructs them to involve energy-intensive companies to reduce their consumption at certain times of the day to benefit households. The minister also demands that Eneo make use of all thermal power plants while waiting for the injection of the first 60 MW from the Nachtigal dam (420 MW) into the grid starting on February 24, 2024.
For the past two months, power outages have been recurring in the interconnected South network (covering six out of the 10 regions in the country) due to an imbalance between electricity supply and demand, which often reaches 185 MW during this dry season.
However, experts doubt that the electricity concessionaire will comply with the government’s instructions. Some companies will inevitably, as usual, reduce their levels of consumption to allow for the supply of households. But it will be difficult for the electricity company to make use of thermal power plants, as their operation requires significant fuel costs. Especially since Eneo continues to claim its debt to the state, amounting to 234.5 billion FCFA, a debt that has always been contested by the state.
Albert Atangana
Read the original article(French) on Mimi Mefo Info
