(Business in Cameroon) - On October 8 and 9, 2014 in Yaoundé, Cameroonian Energy and Water Minister, Basile Atangana Kouna, chaired a meeting between the government and various operators within the electricity sector in Cameroon (EDC, ARSEL, Eneo, EDF, AER), lenders such as the ADB and the World Bank to discuss the implementation of an electricity transportation management company in Cameroon.
During these discussions, participants made recommendations to be examined by the Cameroonian government, particularly concerning the institutional architecture, the organisation, functioning and operationalization of the company which will be 100% public based on the provisions of the 2011 Electricity Act.
The future public company, which itself would result from the said law, should, according to experts, allow the electricity network to be managed more easily. It currently has significant interruptions that negatively impact the sole provider, Eneo as well as companies and households.
Indeed, according to a study by the Electricity Sector Regulatory Agency (ARSEL), approximately 6.5% of the energy produced in Cameroon is lost in the transportation process, while 29% evaporates in distribution due to various forms of fraudulent activity as well as the poor quality of the equipment.
When speaking in May 2013 at a press conference held by the Afrique-France Association, ARSEL’s Managing Director, Jean Pierre Kédi, asserted that Cameroon could save “30% of the energy used by buildings” by addressing the above-mentioned losses.