By Cathy Richards
Residents of Amelia’s Ward and surrounding communities are being called on to desist from the dangerous practice of vandalizing the electricity network at Linden, which is heavily subsidized by the government.
The Linden Electricity Company Inc (LECI) which falls under the management of the Linmine Secretariat has recently discovered that persons have been removing the earth rods and wires from the network.
According to General Manager of LECI Patrick Dublin the discovery was made during a survey of Amelia’s Ward recently.
“We do preventative maintenance work throughout the entire system and that is one of the areas that has caught our attention, that there are missing earth rods,” he said.
Describing the problem as a “new development”, Dublin said LECI has been replacing the earth rods and cut wires and this has been putting undue pressure on the coffers of the company since it has already expended in excess of $500,000 to replace components. Since the discovery was made, LECI has replaced more than two dozen rods in Amelia’s Ward.
While LECI/Linmine has the responsibility for power distribution, maintenance, electricity billing and collection of revenue at Mackenzie, the government has been subsidizing the fuel cost at approximately $150 million monthly. This was alluded to at the recent resuscitation of the Linden Salvation Council by its leader Phillip Bynoe who said this money could be spent on other projects which could bring much needed development to the town and provide jobs for many.
Dublin said residents should appreciate the subsidy and it should be a motivating factor for them to protect the property of the company. He said that without the government subsidy the cost for electricity in the area would amount to approximately $40 per kilowatt hour (KH) for domestic users and $70 per KH for commercial users. Currently domestic users are paying $5 per KH and commercial $12 per KH. Revenue collected from both categories of electricity users in Linden amounts to a mere $8 million monthly, he said. This represents only 12% of the subsidy provided by government.
In recent times the government has been examining the cost of electricity in Linden and had indicated that tariffs would have to be increased. This was met with widespread opposition and protests by residents and businessmen.
In addition to the financial burden being felt by LECI in replacing the stolen and destroyed components of its network, the company’s boss said it poses a serious treat to person’s lives and properties.
Dublin explained that the earth rods and wires play a very important role in releasing excess electricity that may be thrown on the system by lightning and other sources. “Every now and then there might be a lightning strike, it might be noticeable or not. So the purpose of the earth rods and wires are to have those lightning strikes or the extra voltage discharged to ground,” Dublin explained.
He further explained that with the removal of the rods and wires, the time that it takes to discharge the extra voltage is lengthened and can cause major damage to equipment, appliances and harm to human life. “There are many times persons would recall seeing fire running along the power cables and in some cases into their homes. This was a result of the absence of the rods and wires in the network,” he said.
He recalled that on one occasion someone was electrocuted and died as a result of this occurrence.
Additionally, there were several occasions where residents were shocked, badly burnt and lost household appliances during power surges. Amelia’s Ward was among the areas to have been affected by this phenomenon. “So it is very important that we ensure that the earth rods are there and that they stay there for that purpose,” Dublin emphasized.
LECI said the survey would be conducted at all the areas under its jurisdiction but Amelia’s Ward was selected as a priority area because of its sandy nature. Sandy areas are said to be more vulnerable to power surges. Cognizant of this, Dublin said, the company expended an undisclosed sum to make it secure.
“… we have to run lines from top to bottom throughout the system, that’s a floating ground, to maintain safety,” Dublin explained. He said the company conducts frequent checks to ensure those lines are there and maintained to ensure that the earth system is in place. “If you remove that wire you are leaving the line open to lightning surges and this can be very damaging. So we want to appeal to residents not to move these rods and we want persons to become watchdogs in their communities. If you see someone removing the wires immediately inform us or the police,” Dublin pleaded.
The company said it has also started replacing the copper-coated rods with galvanized ones, which they hope would be less of a temptation to persons. It was reported that person are in the habit of removing the copper-coated rods for their personal gains and the wire were being used make TV antennas, plant baskets and clothes hangers among other things. “I want to caution person that the wire we have there now is not copper it is galvanized. They may look like copper but I want to assure you that they are not and if you remove them it would all go to waste because it’s not copper,” Dublin said.
Another problem being dealt with by the company is illegal wiring. When the company took on the responsibility for electricity at Mackenzie in 2003, immediate attention was given to areas that were considered ‘under monitored’. Those areas included the mining areas of Nottinghamshire, Yariyabo, Coomacka among others. The company back then ran new wires to ensure residents were fairly treated in the distribution system. “We would have given offers to person who would have wired their houses. We helped so that they could have gotten regularized,” Dublin recollected.
He said the problem of illegal wiring is not isolated to those outlying areas but is prevalent in developing areas including Amelia’s Ward to a large extent.
Despite this intervention, Dublin said, person are still being found with illegal connections. He said legislation was now in place to prosecute persons found with illegal connections and he advised those involved to desist from the practice.
LECI charges a fee of $7,100 for a regular domestic connection and $12,000 for a commercial connection.
In the near future, Dublin said, the company would be targeting the village areas. These include Retrieve, Kara Kara, the business centre and Mackenzie among others.
LECI purchases electricity from Bosai, which it distributes to residents of Mackenzie. LECI sells power to the Linden Utility Services Co-op Society Limited which is responsible for power at Wismar.