By: Varney Dukuly
MONROVIA: Finance and Development Planning Minister, Samuel Tweah, has disclosed that Liberia under President George Weah, for the first time ever, exported electricity to its Mano-River basin neighbor, Ivory Coast.
Liberia’s Power House, Mt Coffee, Minister Tweah said has excess electricity generation because of the rainy season and the surplus which has been generated is now being exported on the CLSG line to neighboring Ivory Coast.
“We exported 4.827m kWh in July 2023, valued at $547,900. The amount will go against our bill with Ivory Coast,” said Monie Captan, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC), in a messenger chat with our reporter.
There are growing tensions over the lack of concern towards many homes and hospitals in urban and rural Liberia, as residents battle the scourge of electricity nightmare.
On the other hand, businesses and other entertainment centers have backed protestations by community dwellers against the government for lack of electricity from the state-owned power house.
So, when Minister Tweah asserted that Liberia is exporting surplus current to Ivory Coast, critics cried foul, casting doubts over Liberia’s ability to export electric-power to another country.
But, The ‘Investigative’ INDEPENDENT has in its possession a data sheet that shows Liberia has been credited a significant amount based on its export of electricity to Ivory Coast.
The data indicates that Liberia has a ‘Net Cost Import’ of US$471,464.26 which is indicative of the debt reduction that Liberia owed in the CLSG agreement with the Ivorian authorities.
The document in the possession of this paper indicates that in July this year, Liberia exported over US$500,000 worth of electricity, which goes against the current CLSG debt.
“The reason communities are not connected is due to lack of the distribution network in those areas,” said the LEC document.
“This requires funding to build medium and low voltage transmission and distribution backbone and then all the transformers and service drop materials,” the document added.
“LEC has already begun connecting some communities on its own and will continue to do so. But, it should be understood that this is a very expensive exercise and resources are limited,” the LEC report added.
A study conducted by ‘Tractebell’ an institution responsible for the ‘Line route and impact studies for 650 km transmission line from Ivory Coast to Liberia said, “despite the recovery of Liberia’s electricity sector following two civil wars, only 4.9% of the country is electrified, one of the lowest rates in Africa.
The LEC mentioned that problem with meters for connection will soon be resolved.
“We will be receiving 100,000 meters next week,” the LEC further indicated.
The State- owned corporation, has at the same time, cautioned citizens and foreign residents to end the power theft so that LEC can collect its due revenue.
LEC: “Without this, we will not be able to pay for the extension of the network.”
Though some critics of the Weah’s administration see nothing good in Tweah’s statement with many citing reasons to discredit him, the LEC has acknowledged the growing progress of Liberia in the hydro-power industry.
The LEC document stressed that export revenue from the current will be credited against LEC’s bill with Ivory Coast.
Liberia, according to the document, is expected to save approximately US$2.5 Million this rainy reason from export earnings.
“The significance of this development is the demonstration of Liberia’s energy export potential,” said the document.