Powering Gambia on solar energy can lower electricity bills

The use of solar energy as an alternative to fossil fuel can greatly reduce heavy electricity bills on Gambian consumers, a report by the International Energy Agency states.

The report has it that the development of reasonably priced, inexhaustible and clean solar technology will have significant long-term benefits for The Gambia’s electricity tariffs.

Solar energy could be Gambia’s predominant source of energy for decades to come and perhaps a lasting solution to the country’s energy problems, the report added.

It also states that solar energy will increase the country’s energy security, reduce pollution, lower costs of tackling climate change and keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise.

Almost 600 million Africans rely on kerosene lamps and candles for lighting

Six out of every ten Africans, representing 600 million people, rely on dangerous fuel-based lighting like kerosene lamps and candles, Lighting Africa Progress Report has stated.

“This large proportion of Africans who lack electricity spends US$ 10.5 billion a year on kerosene which is the dominant source of lighting,” the 2013 annual report of Lighting Africa says.

It notes that kerosene is used as a primary lighting source by 53 per cent of Africa’s population.

The report also states that resorting to expensive and dangerous fuel-based lighting poses fire hazards and causes pollution.

It suggests that the continent should consider shifting to other sources of energy like windmill and solar.

NAWEC to dismiss some staff?

Some staff members of the National Water and Electricity Company might have their services terminated if the recommendation of an independent consultant brought in to assess the company’s fiscal discipline is approved.

The National Water and Electricity Company Limited has been asked to make redundant some 45 members of its staff following a staff audit of the company by “an independent consultant” to ascertain whether the financial-deficient state-owned company is overstaffed.

As part of the recommendations at the end of the assessment, the consultant says the public utilities provider should make redundant 45 staff, as it was discovered that the services of these people are “obsolete” and “can be outsourced” to save the heavily-indebted company some cost associated with salaries to retain much needed revenue.

 

To find out whether Nawec will heed the recommendation of the consultant and make redundant the 45 staff, when and which areas they are working within the Nawec units, Gambia News Online spoke with Nani Juwara, commercial director of the company, who said the report is an internal one and the recommendation is yet to be effected, hence prefers not to make any comment on it.

Gambians pay high price for electricity

Gambians pay one of highest price for electricity in the world, thus limiting again the access to energy for the population, European Union programme manager, Sylvain Lequere, says.

Speaking at the launching the renewable energy project at a local hotel in The Gambia on 14^th March, Mr Lequere reiterated that the rate at which people in Gambians continue to pay for electricity is among the highest in the world.

Mr Lequere said the country’s energy system is currently dealing with major constraints such as ageing power plants, inefficient transmission and distribution system.

Another major constraint, he noted, is the country’s high dependence on fuel coupled with “the legal frameworks that are unfavourable to private investments”.

The consequences of these constraints have gravely resulted into low access to electricity for majority of Gambians. Only 35% of the country’s 1.8 million people have access to power, of which only 6% is for the upcountry.

“This is also limiting the development of the private sector in the country,” Mr Lequere noted.

Speaking earlier, the Minister of Petroleum, Teneng Mba Jaiteh, who officially launched the energy project, said the energy situation in the country is characterised by high dependence on biomass fuels, limited access to modern energy services and unsustainable dependence on imported fossil fuel.

“Almost all of The Gambia’s modern energy service requirements are met from imported fossil-based energy sources, which is not only affecting the country’s foreign exchange reserves, thus making the country vulnerable to fluctuations in world oil prices, but it also results in the emission of greenhouse gases,” she said.

IMF recommends immediate fuel price increment for Gambia

Cost of transport and electricity-related services in The Gambia may skyrocket as pump price of fuel in the country is billed for further increase very soon, if the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is anything to go by. 

In its latest report on The Gambia, the IMF has advised the government for an “immediate adjustment in fuel prices” in order to remedy the steady decline of the country’s revenue performance coupled with unanticipated expenditure overruns, higher-than-budgeted spending, which could threaten the country’s macroeconomic stability. 

The Gambia government revenue performance has signaled a downward trend over the years while expenditure has continued to increase giving rise to budget deficit that continues to swell year on year.

With the fuel price increment, the IMF says, the government is expected to collect the full value of excise tax on fuel, although it noted that this adjustment might only provide a modest of the much needed revenue boost.

NAWEC loses over D761M in three years

By Lamin Jahateh,  Banjul The National Water and Electricity Company Limited (NAWEC) has incurred an operational lost of more than seven hundred and sixty-one million dalasis (D761 million) from 2008 to 2010, which impeded the revenue base of the company and affects its operational obligations. In 2008, the company registered over D363 million losses and in 2009 the losses reduced to D68million. “This only shows how the vagaries in the prices of oil impact on the finances of NAWEC,” said Alhagie Jallow, Finance Director of the sole company that provides electricity, water and sewerage services in The Gambia. Pic: Mr. Jallow, Managing Director, NAWEC Justifying this loss, Mr Jallow said: “It was in 2008 we witnessed the global financial and economic crisis and many institutions, the world over, sought for assistance from their governments and they got a bailout package. Unfortunately for NAWEC we have not got any bailout package. Nonetheless we have a responsibility to ensure that our key institutions are protected and sustained if we are to forge ahead in developing this country. In 2009 as the prices of oil started going down, our losses also decreased from D363 in 2008 to D68 million in 2009. “We expect that our 2010 losses will increase to D330 million and that is precisely because the prices of oil in the international market started to increase from 2009 going to 2010 and still going further into 2011.” Due to these huge losses, NAWEC is encountering difficulties to pay its suppliers. In 2008 and 2010 the company owed its major suppliers over D378 million and D830 million respectively. The company’s Finance Director has therefore pleaded with the people to approve NAWEC’s proposed tariffs in order to remedy this situation. “If our tariffs remain the same couple with the vagaries in the prices of oil and volatility in exchange rates, then we will have a problem and that problem would only be resolved if the related cost can be passed to consumers,” he said. He continued:  “Though we all know that not all cost can be passed to consumers, those that can be passed to consumers will be defined and passed to them to ensure the sustainability of the company. “Those cost which could not be passed to consumers should obviously be paid for. Who should pay for them also should be identified, but if we don’t it means somehow, somewhere somebody will be taking it up and NAWEC is most of the time owing the suppliers but the suppliers also can go to a certain extent and there will come a time they will say ‘enough is enough’ and they will close their taps, then everybody will sit down and say ‘NAWEC amut oil’  (NAWEC has no oil), then all the lights will be off and everybody will be in darkness and then who knows what follows. We don’t want to get to that point.” While trying to convince people that NAWEC should increased its tariffs for the services they provided, Mr Jallow said the ever-increasing prices of oil coupled with the stagnant tariffs has negatively impacted on the finances of NAWEC. “To give you a background of how the increasing prices of oil has impacted on the finances of NAWEC,” he explained,  “the minimum price per barrel for crude oil between November 12th 2010 and February 4th 2011 was $81.70 and that picked up to $95.71 and, as we speak, the cost has increased further to $100 plus.  This is the situation that we have been facing over the last few years.  Under normal circumstances, if such situation occurs some cost should be past to consumers, any excess amount that should be past to consumers should normally be subsidized for.” NAWEC is proposing to increase tariffs of the different services they provide. “Our tariffs had been virtually stagnant over the period since January 2009 through to December 2010, whereas the heavy fuel that we use at the Kotu Power Station picked up from July 2009 increasing right through to December 2010 and this is continuing,” he said. “The same thing goes for the light fuel, which we mainly use in the provinces to generate electricity.  The price per litre of light fuel is well over D30 as we speak.” Provincial operations are not profitable The Managing of NAWEC, Mr Momodou Jallow says electricity generation in the provinces is not profitable. “The provincial operations are most of the time not profitable - this is not specific to The Gambia,” he added. “Nonetheless, NAWEC has a responsibility to provide social services, including electricity, not only in the Greater Banjul Area but also in the provinces and of course given that the generators there use light fuel, which is more expensive to generate electricity, makes it profitable to generate electricity in the provinces.”

NAWEC refutes claim that Gambia have highest electricity tariff

by Lamin Jahateh, Banjul NAWEC have disapproved the notion that Gambia have the highest electricity tariff in the sub-region. “Countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Liberia have higher electricity tariff than The Gambia,” said Mr. Jallow, the Finance Director of NAWEC. He said most of the time when people said that electricity tariff in The Gambia is high compared to other countries in the sub-region, what they don’t tell other people is that the sources of production of electricity are different from country to country. “If you take Ghana, for instance, where they use hydro to generate electricity which is far cheaper in terms cost of production you cannot compare that to a thermal power plant such as the one we used in The Gambia and naturally our cost of production will not be the same,” Mr. Jallow said. He continued: “Just to give you a simple example, if you have a bottle (0.5 Liter) of water costing D10, but if you put NAWEC water inside the bottle you cannot charge the same price and there is a good reason for that.  The company that bottled this water have cost that they incurred before getting the water into the bottle and for them to be able to remain in business the least they could price for the bottle is their cost and of course to make further investment to expand they need to add some margin to the cost of production. So naturally that is why they price the 0.5 liter bottle at D10, if you put NAWEC water in the bottle you cannot sell it to anybody for D10 because that is not the cost to NAWEC.  So this is a simple analogy, so if people are comparing let say electricity tariff in Gambia to Ghana they have to understand what the sources of production is and the cost related to that,” NAWEC is mandated for the provision of electricity, water and sewerage service in The Gambia.  As a public enterprise NAWEC has not operated on a commercial basis in the sense that both water and the provinces are subsidised by the Electricity Division. Although NAWEC has achieved financial sustainability for its normal operations, it still lacks the resources to properly expand the electricity system. Due to this the system is ill equipped to satisfy the growing demand and needs substantial investment for maintenance and expansion.