MONROVIA: The Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Liberia Electricity Cooperation (LEC), former Foreign Minister Monie Ralph Captan, has disclosed that the Liberian government, through the LEC, is losing 46 Million United States Dollars (US$46Million) monthly due to power theft.
He said power theft is a major driver of commercial losses currently at the LEC and it poses a serious problem to having the entity provide adequate services to its numerous customers.
Speaking Thursday, November 10, 2022, at the Ministry of Information regular press conference held in the compound of the Liberia Electricity Corporation in West Point, Mr. Captan also said theft of power within communities is seriously hampering the sustainability of the corporation and its ability to expand current grid networks across the country.
He used the occasion to encourage community dwellers and leaders to work with community teams who will be visiting their various communities. “Without community engagement, we are definitely out for failure,” he pointed out.
Captan disclosed that LEC has signed a power purchase agreement for 27 additional megawatts with a company called” CI Energies of the Republic of Ivory Coast, which he noted, will go a long way in meeting their dry season electricity needs of Liberians.
He, however, appealed to residents of communities to pay for power in order to have the latest electricity arrangement remain sustainable.
The Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) was established in 1973 under a Government of Liberia (GoL) legislative Act.
The act mandates LEC to oversee the country’s generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity supply. LEC is a public corporation owned solely by the Government of Liberia, with the mandate to produce, transmit and sell economic and reliable electric power to the entire nation.
