By Nasratu Kargbo
Consumers of electricity supply have complained over what they say is the increase in tariffs by the Electricity Distribution and Supply Agency (EDSA)
People are of the opinion that there would be a drop in tariffs following the recent slight fall in the pump price of fuel.
The issue was key in conversations amongst passengers onboard a public transport in Freetown recently. One of those passengers Mohamed Kallon explained to Politico how he went to buy electrity credit and was told that they do not sell an amount of less than seventy Leones.
“I had no choice but to increase the credit because I had almost nothing in my prepaid meter, so I bought seventy Leones”, said Kallon.
He said upon entering the token, he was surprised to see an addition of only 3.2 units to the 3 units he already had. He explained that he had to return to the centre where he bought the units, and had the attendant explained to him that because he had to pay monthly charges for the past four months, together with the GST fee for the current month, that left him with three units.
“How can I buy credit when I already have? We experienced blackout for months, and when the power came, we could hardly charge our phone as a result of low voltage. So, when the power came on strong last month I still had credit, where did I go wrong? I never knew that those monthly charges are deducted with or without power supply” Kallon stated. He said the system is a bad one.
Isata Kanu explained that she goes to work all day and returns only at night, emphasizing that she does not use electrical appliances except during weekends when she uses the electric iron other appliances such as television.
Kanu stated that she noticed the fifty leones unit she buys every month had reduced when converted to units.
“I expected a reduction in the tariffs since the pump price of fuel has reduced, but they have reduced fuel twice in the country but nothing was done with the tariffs”, a businessman Ramadan Bah also stated.
He said there is so much pressure in other areas and that electricity is an added burden. Bah also noted that power supply is very important and hoped that EDSA and all concerned, should revisit the decision made back then and reduce the tariffs.
Business World Centre’s attendant Ishmael Sankoh explained that there are different tariffs, for which a service fee is deducted on a monthly basis, pointing out that even if one is to stop using the meter for months, when they start doing so again, the fees from all the past months will be taken from each recharge until all the debt is paid. “.
Sankoh further explained that 15% GST is also deducted.
In a nutshell, he explained that per every recharge, 15% is subtracted for GST, and an amount also deducted for service charges(which is the monthly fee), so if one has not recharged for two months, the two months fees will be accumulated and deducted in the next recharge. After all the subtractions are made, the remaining money is divided to the cost per unit, adding that the cost per unit was increased.
Politico tried to reach officials at the Ministry of Energy on several occasions, but they did not respond.
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