By Kefiloe Kajane
The government of Lesotho owes the Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) an amount of M95.6-million.
The total amount that the government had owed was M175-million. The debt was reduced when the power company enforced measures to recoup monies owed to it by government and other private sector entities.
In total the company was owed M265-million by government agencies and the private sector.
As a measure to force the companies to pay up, the LEC had to cut off power supply to some entities.
The power utility’s managing director Mohato Seleke this week said the company faced a myriad of challenges, requiring it to tighten the screw so as to collect money owed to it by electricity consumers.
Seleke emphasized that LEC, according to the law, is a profit making company with a development mandate, adding that it could not operate effectively when it is owed large sums of money.
Seleke pointed out that the company is not subsidized by the government even though it is wholly owned by the state.
He indicated that the “huge debts do not only affect LEC as a company but also the economy of the country.
“Collecting money from the government is very challenging. I do not know if this is because the company is 100 percent government-owned. In February this year we embarked on an initiative to recover the debts and so far we have really seen some progress as the government debt now stands at M95.6-million.
“The government has institutions such as hospitals at which we cannot cut off power supply in order to save lives. Even in other private sectors we cannot cut them off from power supply due to avoid any job losses. Our economy can be brought under collapse,” Seleke warned.
He indicated that the company issues out a seven-day notice to those that owe it money before it cuts off the supply.
According to Seleke, the company has incurred huge losses due to vandalism on its property.
In the last financial year, they lost about M21-million worth of property through vandalism, where thieves stole and sold LEC equipment.
“We should realise that paying out debts to LEC is very important as it is the life blood of the company,” he said.
Last month, the Appeal Court and the High Court suspended their operations due to power cut by the company as the ministry of justice owed the supplier several millions of Maloti.
The company has previously urged its customers to pay their debts in time so as to avert any power cut disruptions.
A statement issued by LEC last month said the company was geared to protect its customers from unnecessary system-generated interest charges that could “stifle cash flows and elicit unforeseen financial strain if not monitored and settled as and when they accrue.”
LEC added that service connection fees for households and enterprises should also be cleared timeously and in accordance with the terms provided on quotes to avoid inconveniencing meter disconnections in order to allow the it to continue energizing every village countrywide.”
It said: “All power users are therefore invited to visit LEC’s service centres nationwide to make good on their outstanding accounts before the end of April 2021 to ensure that only current balances are maintained going forward.
“Customers are also allowed to walk in and enquire on the status of their accounts where such information is unknown. All large customers are reminded to quote their account numbers as reference when paying through the banks, for ease of their accounts updating,” the statement read.
