By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA) has warned about an imminent power inteeruption owing to weather conditions.
The warning came ahead of the months of July and August when the country usually experiences heavy downpour and storms. As it stands, EDSA takes pride in 60 to 64 megawatts power generated relative to the demand for power in various communities in Freetown.
No rationing policy is in place for the coming outages, implying that any area with any electric problem would go without light until the problem is solved.
In the face of these expected outages, the institution has two Karpowership machines that generate electricity for both the East and the West ends of the city.
Sahr Nepor, Public relations officer of EDSA, told Politico that during the rains low and high voltages often occur and cause “transformer blast”, due to the effect of lightening. The problem of electricity outages, Nepor continued, is further worsened when trees fall on wires or motor vehicles hit the electric poles thereby causing interruptions.
“Such situations will affect transmissions as the lines are connected to the electric poles,” he said.
However, the EDSA spokesman could not identify the specific areas that could be affected but assured that a response mechanism has been put in place to fix any electrical problem that may erupt.
“Weather conditions are largely out of human control. They are natural. We have stationed response teams in the east and west of Freetown who would be alerted for any electricity problem and numbers have been given out,” he said.
Electricity supply in Sierra Leone, particularly in Freetown and its environs, has always been fraught with a number of problems. About two weeks ago, the Congo Water community suffered from power outage for three days as one of the transformers had a problem. The absence of power created a lot of discomfort for residents as some complained of health problems, as a result of the heat.
But traders were the hardest hit. One of them is Isatu Fornah, who sells cold water at Congo Water through which she earns a living. She told Politico that she makes Le 50,000 and above per day when light supply is normal.
“Most times when light goes off, freezers cannot do well to cool the water. As a result I lose many customers,” Isatu said.
Another resident at Allen Town community in the Far East of Freetown also complained about frequent power outages in the community. Her business of cooling fish in the freezers has been badly affected as a result of blackout. Adama Kanu explained to Politico that she loses huge sum of money during power interruptions. The situation is worse for her as fish is a perishable commodity.
“Fish easily rot when light goes off for days. Most times I have had cause to throw away the rotten fish,” she lamented.
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