The Government of Cameroon has a standing debt of 150 billion francs in unpaid electricity bills to the country’s lone power supply company, Eneo, biweekly newspaper The Post has reported.
The newspaper adds that Government institutions and private companies owe Eneo more than 200 billion francs in electricity bills accumulated for several years.
Eneo has attributed this debt for its “inability to stabilize electricity supply in the country,” which has been quite unstable for several months now.
The company has also been unable to pay some of its technical workers, usually refered to as subcontractors.
The subcontractors, who constitute Eneo’s primary technical workforce, recently notified the company they will be stopping work indefinitely starting from May 10.
In a letter addressed to Eneo, they claimed the company owes them 150 billion francs in unpaid wages. They are also protesting against what they termed the arbitrary suspension of workers by Eneo.
Eneo is yet to comment about the supposed strike action. It is speculated that there could be widespread power cuts in the country if the subcontractors proceed with the indefinite strike as planned. This is because they constitute Eneo’s primary workforce.
They work at sub-stations to repair damaged transmission lines, correct electrical fault and aid in the transmission of electricity to other areas.
