Though plagued by many obstacles such as financing and a wave of petitions from users against poor service delivery, the electric concession holder, AES SONEL has increased the generation capacity of the country by almost 20 per cent in ten years, thus reducing the dependence of Cameroon on hydroelectricity, notably during the dry season. Of the approximately 522,000 customers, about 79 per cent are said to be resident in Douala and Yaounde. The disclosure was made by the corporation’s Managing Director, Jean David Bile, during a press dinner as a part of activities marking its 10^th anniversary celebration at its Koumassi head office in Douala Monday September 5.

With over FCFA 400 billion of aggregate investments from 2001 to 2010, according AES officials, the company has been able to deploy the means to improve its services. Today, there is an installed generation capacity of 933 megawatts, being 721 megawatts hydroelectric and 212 megawatts thermal; with a transmission network of 480 km. Underlining its 2012 plans, the Managing Director expressed the need to restore, in a sustainable way, equilibrium between energy supply and demand by increasing the generation capacity, ensure the reliability of the network and increase the efficiency of transformers and continue to facilitate access to electricity to the greatest number of customers by granting them attractive connection and subscription conditions.