Gaston Eloundou Essomba, Minister of Water and Energy (Minee) made this revelation during the press briefing he organized on Thursday, March 31, 2022 in Yaoundé.
The investments of the State of Cameroon in the electricity sector for nearly a decade are colossal. "Between 2010 and 2021, the financing mobilized for investments in the electricity sector represents a little more than 3,500 billion CFA francs, i.e. 2,000 billion in production, 1,000 billion in electricity transmission and 500 billion in electricity distribution," says Minee.
Important investments that, according to Gaston Eloundou Essomba, do not affect households and businesses. Indeed, the government takes over the subsidy of the price of the KWH. "This is how since 2012, electricity tariffs have been frozen. The subsidies paid between 2012 and 2022 by the State to operators in the sector to avoid this tariff increase amount to about 300 billion CFA francs. By way of illustration, the production cost per KWh of a diesel thermal power plant amounts to 200 F CFA/ kwh, such as the thermal power plants of Bertoua, Maroua, Banyo, Yoko etc …. While households whose monthly consumption is less than 110 KWh, pay only 50 F CFA per KWh, i.e. a subsidy by the State of 150 F CFA / KWh." says the member of the government.
"Repeated load shedding"
Despite this funding, Cameroonians continue to grind black. Regular cuts punctuate the daily lives of households. The day after the CAN 2021, the public provider experienced a deficit of 60 MW in the South Interconnected Network (which includes the Central, Littoral, West, North-West, South-West and South regions). A shortfall equivalent according to the Minee to 35% of the electricity consumption during the day of the city of Yaoundé.
In addition, the load shedding results from the fall of the wooden poles used by the public supplier Eneo. To this end, the Minister of Energy acknowledges that 60% of a fleet of 1,300,000 poles are to be replaced throughout the national territory. "Faced with this problem, the Government has decided to opt for a systematic replacement of the wooden pole supports of the Medium Voltage lines by concrete pole supports. Thus, approximately 31,000 concrete poles were installed between 2019 and February 2022.».
