(Business in Cameroon) - Until late in the night of March 24, 2021, many Yaoundé neighborhoods were still without electricity due to the serious incidents that occurred on the transmission network in the afternoon of March 23. Electricity supply was restored in some neighborhoods that night.  

On March 25, 2021, the supply continued gradually as the restoration works were progressing but, there were still disruptions in the supply. Nevertheless, the resumption in the electricity supply facilitated the progressive resumption of economic activities, which were stopped for about 48 hours in the Cameroonian capital.  

For instance,  Émile Fidjeck, editor-in-chief of media Ecomatin, explains that his team had to incur additional costs to publish the March 25, 2021, edition of the newspaper.  "The editors and the journalists were obliged to move to  TchopetYamo (ed. note: a restaurant with a free wifi connection), Bastos (ed. note: a cool neighborhood in Yaoundé)," Émile Fidjeck explains adding that each of the editors was obliged to buy food on the menu (chicken and chips at XAF2700 for each for the 14 editors and journalists) to access the electricity and wifi needed to work in the areas where they moved in.

This is an example of the damages suffered by SMEs and households in Yaoundé, in the last two days because of the energy disruption.  

One of the main victims of the severe disruptions is water utility company Camwater, which is responsible for the distribution of drinking water in the country. An official release published by the utility explains that due to the unavailability of electricity, the water supply was disrupted in many Yaoundé neighborhoods.

Despite the gradual resumption of the energy supply, residents fear further outages could occur.  Indeed, since January 2021, there have been numerous incidents on the electricity distribution network causing supply disruptions. According to ENEO, besides those incidents, the bushfires that destroy wooden poles, vandalism on electric installations as well as ongoing works on the distribution network are also causing disruptions.

BRM