By Gideon Nma Scott, Jr.
After 50 years of existence, the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) says it is looking back at its achievements, challenges and lessons learned on the services it is providing to the Liberian people.
On July 12, 2023 the LEC will celebrate its 50 years of service since it was founded in 1973.
According to the acting Chief Executive Officer (Agt. CEO) Mr. Monie Captan, this year’s celebration will highlight some major achievements that the corporation has made, identify its challenges and strategize on how to serve the Liberia people better.
He said the LEC is 50 since its establishment, but that a significant portion of those years were eaten up by the almost 15 years civil crisis in the country.
“The LEC suffered major setback when its grid, including the Hydro Power Plant, was destroyed during the years of Liberia’s civil unrest. With the support of the Government of Liberia and Donor Partners, we are continuing to rebuild major facilities and improve on our services,” the LEC CEO said.
Since its establishment through an Act of Legislature on July 12, 1973, the LEC has carried out its mandate to produce and supply affordable, efficient and reliable electric power to the entire nation.
The Act simultaneously tasked the LEC with maintaining the corporation’s financial viability while improving and expanding the network to meet the future demand for electric energy in Liberia thereby stimulating the socio-economic development of the nation.
“We have extended our services to about nine counties including Grand Cape Mount, Bomi, Montserrado, Margibi, Nimba, Bong, Maryland and Grand Gedeh counties. The LEC has also increased our customer base from 35,000 in 1989 to about 250,000 customers in 2023. This is done through donor funded projects and LEC connections,” he added.
He observed that the corporation was challenged with the issuance of transformer and meters to thousands of customers which led to massive power theft across Monrovia, and thanked the anti-power theft taskforce headed by Madam Mary Broh for ensuring that who were involved in the power theft were identified and served with their meters.
“99% of those people who were involved with power theft did not have meters and as soon as they were identified, their various meters were installed and they were connected immediately. I can proudly say that over 17,000 households were connected at the end of the exercise. We thank madam Broh for her dexterity in helping to curb the power theft around Monrovia,” Mr. Captan added.
Mr. Captan noted that the corporation loss millions of United States dollars due to power theft and called on citizens not to encourage those in tier communities who are still “stealing LEC current”.
The LEC boss however boasted that due to the increase in persons wanting to benefit from the electricity supplies, the corporation has ordered over 300,000 meters to serve its customers over a three-year period, noting that there more people are now connected to the power and thousands more will be connected in the not-too-distant future.
Responding to a question on the income generation of the entity, Mr. Captan said, “We have tripled our income, and at the same time, have triple our expenditure. This is because we want to provide the best service for our people.”
He thanked the staff of the corporation who have built for themselves a reputation of commitment and professionalism through their technical and administrative skills.
“All these are accomplished through the technical and administrative skills of our staff who are committed their services to serving the Liberian people,” he praised his staff.
“From 13MW generation capacity in 1989, we have a total installed generation capacity of 126MW which includes 88MW from the Mt. Coffee Hydro Power Plant and 38MW from the Bushrod Thermal Plant. In addition to its installed generation capacity, LEC also has 27MW imported capacity from CI Energies in the Ivory Coast through the CLSG/Transco Transmission Lines,” he said.
Speaking on the electricity instillation in Buchanan, Grand Bassa county, Mr. Captan said, “The sub-station in Buchanan doesn’t belong to LEC. It is being developed through support from the European Union and it has been put under RREA and not LEC, but we will supply some of the electricity that we are buying from Cote d’Ivoire to Buchanan when the city is set up,” He assured the people of Buchanan.
He reaffirms LEC’s commitment to provide accessible, affordable and reliable electricity to all Liberians.
