LERC Releases First Electricity Operators Study Findings

In October 2018, the National Census of Electricity Operators was conducted with a goal of creating a database of operators as per the regulated activities described in section 5.1 of the 2015 Electricity Law of Liberia to facilitate the registration and licensing of electricity operators and recommend definition of transmission and distribution in terms of voltage level.

The Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC) has released findings from the National Census of Electricity Operators report reveals that 319 operators are engaged in generation and distribution of electricity.

The report further reveals that in terms of ownership, 230 (73.0%) of the 319 operators, are privately owned, while 56 (7.6%) are state-owned. A total of 187 operators amounting to 57.1% of the operators met the minimum threshold of 50kW on 219 MWh. It was observed that 61.5% of the total of 187 operators who met the threshold are based in Montserrado County.

The data shows that there is huge concentration of electricity service providers in Monrovia, where economic activity is centered. Thirty-two (32) operators were classified as micro utilities and 187 were self-suppliers. A total of 287 operators supplied power with low voltages, 31 micro-utilities and 253 Self-Suppliers.

Data from the census also showed that of the three hundred nineteen (319) operators enumerated, 202 operators had at least an engineer within their employ. An estimated 202 operators have at least one technician within their employ, while all 319 operators have staff who are categorized as neither engineers or technicians. On the whole, a total of 984 staff are employed by various operators across the country.

With funding from Millennium Challenge Corporation and Millennium Challenge Account Liberia, the first National Census of Electricity Operators was conducted.