September 7, 2021
By: Ilyasa Baa
Electricity supply to Bradford, Ribbi Chiefdom, in Moyamba district will soon be restored as modalities are being put in place to resolve the impasse between Power Leone Solar Electrification Company and their customers.
Sia Kumba Gborie attached to the Customers Operation Unit of the company has informed A-Z Newspaper that the company is working with the Ministry of Energy and the Electricity and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) to resolve the issue once and for all. She said they will be having meeting next week in Bradford involving major stakeholders and members of the community on the way forward. She stressed that if the customers want the light back, an agreement must be signed.
“We cannot allow our team to go to an unsafe environment. We need to get all the stakeholders involved, I mean the ones that supervise us”, she stated. She went on that until grievance redress mechanism is put in place; the environment would be seen unsafe for the team to operate. She noted that the company called up a community meeting which ended in confusion leading to the shutting down of the grid on 21st August.
According to her, in that meeting the issue of electricity theft was put before members of the community. “The team tried to conduct house to house checking but was approached with stiff resistance,” confirmed Ms. Gborie.
The Chiefdom Youth Leader, Albert Turay has said the community wants a win-win situation as far as the light issue is concerned noting that they are looking forward to having fruitful discussions with the company on the resumption of power.
The Deputy Youth Leader, Mohamed Koroma aka Gentri has called on the company to restore the light as soon as possible noting that school goers need the light to study as schools open this week.
It could be recalled that the Regent Chief of Ribbi Chiefdom. M.S.Jalloh, formally complained the company to the Minister of Energy, copied the Member of Parliament for Constituency 093, the District Officer (DO) among others. His complaint ranged from high tariff to the illegal removal of meters.
The company has promised to beef up the grill with some dead batteries being replaced for sufficiency electricity. The issue of poor power outage, according to an Engineer based in Waterloo, is as a result of dead batteries and the weather.