The Director General of the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA), Abu Kamara, has stated that the company is losing over Le7 billion old notes monthly on electricity theft and vandalization of their properties.

He made this disclosure to Journalists in a press conference at their Siaka Stevens Street Office on Tuesday 7th March 2023.

Abu Kamara stated that the Authority is challenged with funding, as a result of the power theft and destruction of their properties.

“If we are to keep providing power supply to the people of Sierra Leone we all have a role to play in ensuring that we stop illegal extraction of electricity,” he said.

The Director maintained that the consequences of such action have become dire on the part of the Authorities, which is putting them in a very difficult situation as well.

According to him all of their staff buy electricity in Leones including, some citizens, but they are paying their partners in dollars. Thus, taking into account the current state of the dollar against Leone together with the ill attitude of some Sierra Leoneans would cripple the Authority.

The illegal connecting is killing EDSA,” he stressed.

He added that it is unfair on the path of those who are buying their electricity service, while hosts of others are bent on theft. As a result of such, he appealed to every Sierra Leonean to take responsibility to stop such practice.

Another issue Mr. Kamara spoke about is the vandalization of their properties. He said their transformers are being destroyed by people to extract the coil from them.

Currently, he said they have about 500 transformers in the Western Area and to repair or replace any one of those costs a huge amount of money. In this regard, he called on the community to take ownership of the property and advise people who are in the habit of doing such to desist from it. as the law will fall heavily on anybody found wanting.

In his statement, the Deputy Minister of Energy Eldred Taylor said the Director has the blessings and commitment of the government going forward in ensuring that they put an end to such a menace.

He appealed to the media to help out in such a fight by taking the message to the people. According to him, the government is putting huge subsidies on energy noting that it will come to a point when- such will be unsustainable.