Kingtom Power Station Under Attack

The Sierra Leone Electricity and Water Regulatory Commission (SLEWRC) on Friday 12th January 2024 held a meeting with the members of the Board and Management of the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) and the Electricity Generation and Transmission Commission (EGTC), respectively.

The meeting took place at the SLEWRC’s 55 Berwick Street headquarters in Freetown.

The Chairman of the SLEWRC Board, Mr. Mohamed Sesay revealed that the meeting is a continuation of their regulatory role to supervise the institutions under their mandate, furthering that, they have received many complaints from consumers and the media about the poor electricity supply in the city and appealed to the board and management of EDSA and EGTC to address the issue.

Dr. Emmanuel Mannah, the Director-General of the SLEWRC disclosed that the meeting is highly represented due to its importance to members of the public, recalled that December 2023 was very challenging for EDSA to provide electricity for the benefit of the public. He added that it is their duty to ensure that EDSA provides quality service to consumers and reverts to providing 98% of electricity before the accident warning that failure would result to management been reprimanded but that the institution cannot be shut down due to its relevance.

Mr. Sidi Bakarr of EDSA observed that EDSA is just distributing light and not generating and therefore can only supply what it receives.

The Director-General of the EDSA, Mr. Milton Kangbai attributed the recent frequent power outages in the city to damage to the transformer at the Kingtom power station on 23^rd December 2023 for which they informed the public through the media asserting that they interface with the public, reiterated that they only distribute electricity provided to them for which he apologized to the public adding that when the incident happened power supply dropped by 30%, the reason they worked assiduously to fix the problem within 48 hours instead of weeks.

He stated that the incident was unforeseen and beyond their control, that they had to secure transmission oil from neighboring Liberia to refill the transformer, assured that the transformer oil can last for between 20-30 years, that EDSA has enough reserve of transformer oil in-country and that provision of electricity has returned to its normal capacity.

According to Mr. Milton Kangbai, they would do their best to minimize power outages enlightened that there are three players in the sector, that they have only one transmission line and recalled the 23^rd December 2023 accident when hoodlums broke into the Kingtom power station but that the armed security guards worked hard to repel them.

He furthered that it was after the armed security guards had repelled the criminals that they discovered that the transformer had been damaged that resulted to massive oil spillage estimated at thousands of gallons causing them to close the valves and radiators.

The Director-General of the EDSA went on to state that after they bought the oil from Liberia, they tested it for 48 hours that proved satisfactory, assured that they have beefed up security at the Kingtom power station, that their only source of electricity is the seasonal Bumbuna Hydro-Electric Dam that provides 50 megawatts of electricity and informed that the turbine of the dam would be closed by 15^th January this year for routine maintenance.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy revealed that they supervise EDSA and GGTC.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy,    appealed for such meetings to be held regularly, observed that the country failed to address the problem of electricity years ago, that the unbounding of the electricity sector was not necessary, that EGTC owes EDSA millions of Leones, called for the review of regulations governing the sector and their enforcement and affirmed that although it is capital intensive, the sector has excelled as electricity generation has increased  from 16-30 megawatts.

He went on to say state that the country does not have the resources to invest in the sector, noting that, this is the best electricity generation the country has had since independence citing the seven district headquarter towns electrification project funded with local resources, stressed the need to always inform stakeholders about developments in the sector and called on all to count on parliament for support.

Other topical issues highlighted by stakeholders included vandalization of transformers and other equipment that is a big challenge as the cost of one transformer is $74 thousand dollars, that a lot of work is ongoing to migrate poles and cables from the old to the new network and that there is need to protect EDSA assets as it has limited resources to replace them.

Other stakeholders pointed out the frequent fire accidents in Kono District due to the overloaded network and increased power supply as well as the proper identification of EDSA staff.

The Director-General of the EDSA, Mr. Joe Lahai stressed the need for a deadline for the investigation of the incident at the Kingtom power station on 23^rd December 2023 and underscored that revenue generation has increased to pay even Independent Power Providers.