N.B: This piece was written based on an interview conducted on August 12, 2018 by the Weekly Private Paper, Capital.
By Haile-Gebriel Endeshaw
Last August 12, 2018 I read an interview the weekly Private Paper, Capital had with CEO of the Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP), Engineer Azeb Asnake. I really appreciate the engineer for lending a willing hand to give the information about her company. However, I should be frank enough to express my opinion that the questions forwarded to Engineer Azeb are so simple that she does seem to enjoy responding them very easily. Issues being circulated among the people have not been dealt with in the wide coverage of the interview. This is to say that the readership of the Paper can hardly get satisfactory information regarding the current issues in the realms of the power service provision.
EEP is one of the biggest (in terms of number of workers, capital, profits…) companies in the country. As it has been monopolized by the government, the services it is rendering to its customers are getting worse and worse. Apart from its poor service delivery, the famous company has sunk in to corruption and nepotism. In this country of ours, there is no one who does not complain about poor service delivery by EEP. Suffice it to mention the regular power disruption and power shedding phenomena we all face today.
I believe that had there been another similar company in the sector, citizens would have made their choices to get better services. Unfortunately, this has not yet been realised. Be it Ethiopian Electric Utility with the responsibility of power selling or Ethiopian Electric Power with the task of constructions of generation plants, transmission lines, substations and operations…, the big company has fallen far short of public expectations. There is no deny of the fact!
To date, people are crying for failing to get appropriate services of the company. There is no fair distribution of electric power throughout the country. People are getting the service for the mere reason of who or what they are; or how much they can afford to pay in terms of greasing officials’ palms. Should all the people of this country work for the ministry of defence, or be party members to get the electric power service? This is a complete apartheid. EEP is carrying out grand projects using public funds and international loans taken on behalf of the entire nation. How are our children supposed to pay the loans their parents have never been utilized? This is a total weakness of the company. Madam CEO, take heed of this. There is no need to evade responsibilities.
If you need electrical connection to your house, be sure to wait for months and years before getting the service. A case in point is an incident happened in the capital, Addis Ababa, where much ups and downs are not complained about to get the service. Lebu is the special name of the area. A number of people have applied for the electric power service by settling the required down payments as of 2015. But it is a very touching occurrence that these people are still leading lives in darkness. Some workers of EEP went farther to ask shamelessly for bribe which is very big, and the common people can hardly afford to pay. Those who can respond to the demand are seen getting the service. If you go to Kazanchis, Piassa, and Mexico offices of EEP here in Addis to consult senior officials about the issues, you will get responses related to problems of transformers and poles. (By the way, power disruptions have occurred three times while I was jotting down this note.)
Officials at EEP, including the CEO, are currently boasting of massive power selling to neighbouring countries without satisfying the domestic need. What does this mean? Why wasn’t the CEO asked by the Capital about this thing? Why wasn’t she requested to say something regarding the rampant corruption, nepotism and poor services of her company?
I felt that currently the people are not in a position to hear about public relation works of any organizations. These organizations can do the promotion works by using their respective internal publications (magazines and brochures…). As a public voice, the Weekly Private Paper, Capital should do its level best in bringing out hot issues to the public. This day, people request about the actual output or services they get from EEP. No need for the CEO to talk about several projects her company is executing across the country. This has long been reiterated by stated-owned media outlets. People are now tired of listening to such hotchpotches.
Our officials at higher positions should be bold enough to take responsibilities. Please take a good example of our Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to speak confidently of draw backs. Engineer Azeb could have confessed at least that EEP failed to live up to public expectations. She should have done that even if she had not been asked in the interview. She could have taken this opportunity to acknowledge weaknesses of her company. You should know that the poor people need better services from EEP. They have nowhere to go.
It is not fair to talk about power sales in bulk to Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania, Djibouti, and Uganda while the poor fellow country people are suffering from lack of an hour electric service to bake a single injera. The leaders of the neighbouring countries are thinking of providing their citizens with electric power services while our leaders forget everything about us. The CEO, Azeb Asnake, is talking about power selling to neighbouring countries. But what has she done regarding the grievances raised during her recent discussion with the people of Amhara? Should not this issue be given closer attention? Why the new transformers, people are complaining about, are not working properly? Why do EEP workers allegedly steal transformers and poles from one (destitute) place in a bid to fix them in to spots where they can get money from? Who is the responsible official to stop or fight against this daylight robbery? Or are these people at the top still fooling us by saying this is also a white lie?
The other thing is that we don’t read, in the interview, anything about the status of the old hydroelectric dams. We heard weeks back about the fire accident occurred at Ghibe II (?) Power Generation Dam. What is the current status? We hear people saying about the poor power generating capacity of Tekeze hydropower dam. What are the developments of the power plants? We have not been provided with the latest information in this regard. Can you hear me? … I went through the interview with those thoughts in my mind.
I believe EEP is concerned about the tariff increment to be imposed on the customers. By the way, I don’t feel like using the diplomatic term ‘adjustment’. No need to beat about the bush. It is a tariff increment; not an adjustment! We are surprised to hear about the news of tariff increment while there is no fair and satisfactory service provision. EEP is supposed to collect birr seven billion per month from customers who are crying over its poor and unfair services. Currently this famous company is amassing in a month birr six billion. So, the thing is that EEP is concerned not about service improving or upgrading but about the benefit it is gaining in terms of revenue. Therefore, what I understand from my reading is that the tariff increment is meant to help EEP do its assignment of hitting the revenue target of securing over birr seven billion on monthly basis. But what are the things it is planning to give in return to the customers?
This piece was written before Engineer Azeb was replaced by a new CEO.
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