Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com
PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti: The year 2006 started in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, under the sign of the blackout, as the last part of 2005 had ended.
Except for the zones known as priority, some districts of the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince get electricity only two hours every three days. The luckiest districts receive it two hours per day.
The main cause of this severe rationing is linked with the inability of the national electricity company (ED'H) to obtain fuel supplies.
The electricity company has faced difficulties since the end, in February 2005, of an emergency subsidy of twenty-seven million dollars coming from the United States Agency International Aid (USAID) a source close to ED'H told Caribbean Net News.
The government was then committed to release eight million dollars monthly on behalf of the national electricity company . But, this governmental subsidy remains random; provisional authorities being frequently solicited by other exigencies dependent, in particular, on the elections and other thorny issues inherited from the Aristide regime.
According to our sources, the management of ED'H remains suspended pending the outcome of a provisioning request, renewable every three months, made to the interim government. The matter is currently being considered by the central bank.
Currently, the reservoir level of the hydro-electric power station in Péligre (in the centre of Haiti) is 163 meters, out of a capacity of 172 meters. The company is currently utilising one of its generators 24 hours a day and another between 6 p.m. and midnight to produce what little energy is available in the metropolitan area.
Customer demand varies between 80 and 150 megawatts, whereas currently ED'H has at its disposal only 30 to 40 megawatts.
If the difficulties currently experienced by this public enterprise were to continue into next month, rationing would increase. The more so as the power station at Péligre is likely to reach by then the critical point of 152-153 meters.
For approximately two decades, ED'H has been unable to make ends meet and part of the deficit results from hacking of the electric network. The company has also taken pains for several years to satisfy customer demand, notwithstanding the increasing cost of electricity.
The current inefficiency is due to the fact that, in addition to the recurring problems of fuel supplies and maintenance of the electric network, successive governments resorted only to palliative measures.
According to a source close to ED'H, an effective resolution of the electric power problem entails a review of diesel usage - the fuel being very expensive - and a suitable choice of equipment
"It would have been better for the company to obtain larger generators of fifty megawatts instead of small ones of 1.5 megawatts," adds the same source.
These comments echo a plea made by Doctor Michel Lomini, a former Haitian minister, in an article published December 2004 and entitled: "Development aid versus humanitarian aid: Haiti must make a choice ". The author regretted the spreading of production amongst small diesel stations, not very efficient and with a very high cost of maintenance, and a relatively very short lifespan.
Haiti is among Caribbean countries with the lowest consumption of electric power. It approaches, according to certain estimates, 0.04 kilowatt/hour per capita. This deficiency is often mentioned among the obstacles to the social and economic development of Haiti.
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