In a bid to reduce human interface challenges in the energy sector, the Ministry of Energy through the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) has officially launched a six-month pilot program in partnership with Smart Power, a private energy firm in Sierra Leone.

The objective of the Smart partnership is to reduce or minimise the high level of illegal extraction, faulty meters, non-payment of bills, high indebtedness causing withheld energy production, and shortages in power supply leading to blackouts; and to also connect all faulty lines and thereby enable customers to pay their correct bills, to reduce wastage of electricity, especially on meters and illegal connections, and to create a sustainable fiscal position for EDSA to enable them to pay bills and provide reliable electricity supply.

Speaking at a ceremony held yesterday on the 6th Floor of the Electricity Building on Siaka Stevens Street in Freetown, the Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr Eldred Taylor on behalf of the Minister of Energy, Alhaji Kanja Sesay, said since they assumed office in 2018, a lot has been happening in the energy sector, and that momentum needs to be kept on with concerted efforts as a family in the energy sector.

The Ministry of Energy, according to Dr Eldred Taylor, has a strategic oversight role in utility service, including EDSA which most citizens know when it comes to power.

He acknowledged challenges in the Energy sector and realised that over time, a couple of interventions have taken place in addressing critical challenges faced by the sector, primarily EDSA. One critical challenge normally face by the sector is loss of revenue, and EDSA is making a big loss when it comes to revenue that is expected.

Part of the loss, Mr Eldred Taylor said has to do with the technical aspect which is currently improving, and more importantly the commercial aspect which will help to address challenges.

As per Presidential directive, Dr Taylor recalled the Ministry of Energy engaged various security sector players and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in meetings about the electricity issue which has become gradually a national security issue, for a robust team to go after those engaged in these illegal activities.

The exercise, according to Dr Eldred Taylor was largely a success because one key mandate for which that team was constituted was to take some kind of punitive action against culprits. About three to four months ago that decision, Dr Taylor said had to be suspended simply because they did not get cooperation from other stakeholders especially the Military and the Police.

This called for a re-strategised approach, through the Board that came up with a decision to have a private firm “SMART POWER” to technologically address some of these challenges faced in the Energy sector

The Director General of EDSA, Mr Abu B.S Kamara noted that electricity is a major contributing factor to socio-economic growth for all Sierra Leonean, and as citizens, we all have a civic responsibility to make electricity affordable.

The Chief Executive Officer of SMART Power Sierra Leone Limited, Mohamed Idriss said the partnership is to ensure that they make EDSA work more effectively, and more efficiently through digital technology, and introduce different kinds of programs from the normal manual system that EDSA has been operating.