By Mabinty M. Kamara
Residents of a section of Wellington called Magnus have complained about fluctuation in voltage in the power supplied by the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA), which they say is causing damages to their appliances.
Wellington, which is in Constituency 115, is an industrial estate and it is host to several factories. Some of the residents believe that their experience with the power supply is linked to the fact that they share power lines with the factories.
Elizabeth Kamara, one of the concerned residents, who invited Politico into her living room, still keeps three broken appliances - a fan, a television set and an extension - which she said were destroyed by electricity fluctuation.
She said they have been grappling with the situation over the last two years, noting that sometimes they go for weeks without power supply.
“The three-day lockdowns are the most terrible moments for us, being at home without light and sometimes when it’s comes it is very dull,” she explained, referring to the last two three-day nationwide lockdowns implemented by the government as part of its effort to cut down the transmission of Covid-19.
“It is barely strong to even charge phones not to talk of turning my freezer on,” she said.
The aggrieved residents who spoke to Politico said they have reported their concern to EDSA which had failed to act even when they made personal financial contributions representatives of the Authority.
“We have contributed money as a community and called on EDSA workers to come and fix it up. But we still have this dull current,” she said.
EDSA didn’t get back to Politico on time for comment on the issues.
Meanwhile, the community people say because they share the same transformer with manufacturing companies operating in the area, they believe this is the reason for the low voltage.
When Politico visited the community on Tuesday, May 26, the power supply looked relatively stable. But the residents say that’s because the factories were not working at the time due to the holiday.
Residents like Fanta Kallay and Christiana Mansaray strongly believe that the factories are the cause of their problem with the power situation.
Ms Kallay appealed to EDSA to step up and honor its side of the bargain to fix the problem. She disclosed that they had even informed their Member of Parliament about the problem.
“Those factories are the cause of our problems. When it is holiday, like today, when they are not working, you can see that both my television and the freezer are on. But when they are at work, there is no way that can ever happen,” said Mansaray, who relies on the power to do petty business.
The MP, Alpha Amadu Bah, denied knowledge of the problem, even though his constituents said they had informed him about it.
He said he only learned about the problem from Politico.
“As I said, this is the first time that I am hearing about this, but the first thing I will do is to engage with my councilor and also the residents to get it from them. Then we will go to EDSA and the Ministry of Energy, because it is only then that we can know the cause of the actual problem,” he said.
He added: “But to say the factories are the cause, that I cannot confirm because it’s a technical issue.”
Hon. Bah promised to start engagement with the community over the issue on this Wednesday, May
Electrical experts familiar with the community told Politico that the problem could be connected to weak transformer.
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