By Seedy Jobe
The National Water and Electricity Company says electricity theft is costing the utility a substantial portion of the power it supplies, with an estimated 30 to 40 percent of electricity entering the national grid going unpaid for because of illegal connections and meter bypasses.
Buba Badjie, NAWEC’s public relations officer, said the scale of the problem means the company may collect revenue for only about 60 to 70 percent of the electricity it supplies.
Speaking Friday on Kerr Fatou’s The Grand Bantaba program, Mr. Badjie described electricity theft as a serious and increasingly widespread problem involving households and businesses.
According to Mr. Badjie, some customers illegally bypass NAWEC meters or make unauthorized connections to the company’s electricity lines, allowing them to consume power without being billed.
He said NAWEC has established a special task force, led by the energy adviser, to identify and pursue people suspected of stealing electricity. The operation has already resulted in several people being apprehended, he said, with some fined and making payments to the utility.
Mr. Badjie said more arrests were expected in the coming weeks as the crackdown continues.
Asked why NAWEC had not publicly identified those caught, Mr. Badjie said the company must first complete the required legal and administrative procedures and respect the rights of those accused.
“You know human beings have rights, the country has laws, and NAWEC also has procedures,” he said. “You don’t just come and bring it to the public. So there are procedures, and we are following those procedures. When we are done, you will see all of them. It won’t be long.”
He said NAWEC intends to make the names public once those procedures have been completed.
Mr. Badjie identified three major consequences of electricity theft: lost revenue for NAWEC, pressure on the electricity supply, and increased safety risks.
He said illegal consumption deprives the company of revenue needed to operate and maintain the power system. He also linked electricity theft to outages, saying unauthorized consumption reduces the electricity available to customers who are legitimately connected to the grid.
Illegal connections, he added, are also a significant cause of electrical fires, posing dangers not only to those making the connections but also to surrounding homes and communities.
Mr. Badjie said Gambians make up the majority of those implicated in electricity theft, though some foreign nationals have also been found engaging in the practice.
NAWEC, he said, intends to intensify its enforcement campaign as the task force investigates more suspected cases and moves against offenders.
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