(Business in Cameroon) - Electric utility ENEO informs that in the first six months of 2020, it connected 34,098 Cameroonian households to the power grid. This figure is down by 23% compared with the 44,352 households the company connected to the grid during the same period in 2019.

The utility explains that this drop was not only due to the coronavirus but also to the unavailability of electric poles. “Overall, the average time required to connect a household to the power grid rose from 3 to 7 days,” it adds.

ENEO further indicates that because of the restrictive measures issued by the government, and to protect its staff, it reduced the operations of companies that connect households to the grid and those that perform maintenance works. Therefore, its performance dropped, for electricity access and service quality.

For instance, it illustrates, machine availability rate at power plants was 93.46%, up by 6.12% compared with projections. “Overall, the volume of energy used by clients has been below projections because of a drop in demands from industrial clients in the most industrialized regions (Douala, Yaoundé, the West, and the South-west),” ENEO comments. At end-June 2020, it had a portfolio of 1,417,000 clients, including 57,200 new clients obtained during the first six months of 2020.

S.A.