By Boris Esono in Buea
For the past days, the population of Buea, Tiko and those in
Kumba, all in the South West Region of Cameroon has become accustomed to the
noise emanating from generators around these municipalities. These areas have
been living under constant power outages.
The
localities at the moment that are affected included: West Coast, Limbe, Ombe
Mutengene, Tiko, Missellele, Buea, Ekona, Muyuka, Mbonge, Tombel, Kumba, and
their surroundings.
The
blackout started in Buea, chief town of the South West Region in the evening
hours of Sunday, March 8. And at the time of this report, the epileptic nature
of the electricity supply is still being felt in the Buea municipality. The
Worst still, a whole day will pass and the municipality will be in darkness, no
light from morning till morning.
“What
kind of thing is this? How can ENEO be seizing lights when we are writing our
examinations,” lamented a UB student, who noted: “I have been forced to use
candles to read all this while, and it has not been easy for me. My eyes pain
each time I use the candle to read in the night. I hope the electricity
supplier does something to rectify the situation soon.”
Another
Buea inhabitant wondered: “Is this the vision 2035 our government has been
talking about. When there is monopoly over the provision of some necessities,
such things are bound to happen. If we had another company charged with
providing electricity, ENEO would have stepped up its game knowing there is
competition. But they are relaxed because there is not competition.”
Business
premises especially those that need electricity supply to function
(documentation, cyber café) have felt the brunt of this power outages. Majority
of them do not open their shops or do open with the hope that the light will be
brought back. That hope, however, as the day unfolds turns to disappoint as the
light is not brought back.
A
message from the electricity company, ENEO Cameroon S.A dated 11 March 2020,
indicated that the disruption to the electrical service currently being
experienced by its esteemed customers in Fako and Meme Divisions is as a result
of an incident that occurred on the transformer of the Limbe Mile 2 substation
on Sunday 8, March 2020 at 07:00
According to ENEO, SONATREL’s team is currently working hard
to get the situation back to normal as soon as possible.
“The
absence of transmission facility has increased the constraints on the
distribution network, thereby obliging ENEO to ration the electricity supply to
keep the system balanced,” the communiqué read in part.
The
company has called on its customers to activate any alternative energy sources
at their disposal if the need arises but warned that customers should unplug
all sensitive devices, and not to plug them back in again, until 15 minutes
after the current has been fully restored.
Despite
the tireless dedication of our technicians, repair works at our power station
remain inconclusive, up to this moment. As a result, all affected localities
remain without power supply,” another communiqué noted.
“Limbe
and the upper parts of Buea are currently being supplied thanks to a
reconfiguration of the network. However, because of the strain which night-time
power consumption puts on our network system, these localities may experience
periods of disturbances this evening.”
With
Buea/Limbe scheduled to host the Africa Nations Championship from April 4-25,
many inhabitants are wondering how the municipality will host such a
competition with the frequent power outages.
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