John Sanyi, Electrical Engineer, new Regional Director of ENEO for the East Region, talks about the causes of outages being experienced in the country.

What is ENEO’s take on the frequent power cuts in the country?

ENEO is aware. We are not saying that we are the best or at our best. We are working everyday to make things better. We are sizing up the situation now with respect to the past. The customer base of ENEO is expanding rapidly with supply unable to meet with demand for the moment.

How far have you gone with maintenance work?

The electricity network at one moment was not performing well. We transport electricity through wooden poles that have a lifespan of at least 20 years. ENEO is having the burden of replacing the pools and frequent power cuts will persist if we do not do it now. It is a lot of investment with over FCFA 37.2 billion already approved by the Board of Directors. FCFA 20.5 billion of which has been set aside to replace old equipment- wooden poles, cables, overloaded and outdated transformers.

Over 500, 000 wooden poles have to be replaced and we are going at a rhythm of 40,000 or more a year. One can therefore imagine how long this can take. However, ENEO is not lying on its laurels. We are determined to double figures each year and the job could be complete in the next four years.

What is the electricity coverage in Cameroon?

The country’s electricity coverage and distribution is however enormous as compared to other countries. At least 70 per cent of the country is electrified although we have almost a million low voltage customers. However, we are getting closer to the population and with time, ENEO will cover the whole territory.

How soon will Cameroonians experience a constant flow of electricity?

More power plants are being built to redress the situation. The latest eight transformers were built in Douala, Yaounde, Maroua and we are sourcing for 10 others for other parts of the country. Lom-Pangar will be operational shortly and electricity supply will definitely increase. Some areas like the North West are witnessing what we call voltage drop.

The Region is at the end of the network line. Electricity is generated in Songlolou and Edea and supplied to the North West and power drop is enormous when it reaches there. The problem is being taken care of. Government has handed to ENEO a generating plant and power outage and or low voltage in that part of the country will soon be a thing of the past. ENEO is committed to having stable electricity in the country.

What measures have you taken to ensure that this is effective?

In 2015, ENEO wants to double the volume of transactions to plus 20 per cent, with focus on reducing intervention hours through the acquisition of more state-of-the-art equipment. ENEO just moved from four to nine regional representations. This is part of measures to make sure that the dreams of permanent and steady electricity are achieved. The option for decentralization was based on the hope to get Regional Directorates closer to the population with the view to offer customers better services.

Every Regional Director will henceforth manage both technical and commercial aspects with the strategy to empower them and reduce administrative bottlenecks that most often, than not, mar services to the detriment of customers. The customer is at the heart of ENEO. Plans are already underway to reduce non-distributed energy by creating technical basis in Obala, Monatélé, Nanga Eboko and Bafia all in the Centre Region. The strengthening and troubleshooting of other technical basis in Ebolowa and Sangmelima in the South Region as well as in Bertoua in the East Region is underway.