GANTA CITY- The Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission has concluded a day-long hearing on tariffs and the review of the Jungle Energy Power application.

The one-day public hearing on the Jungle Energy Power application for review of electricity tariff was held at the Ganta Methodist gym.

LERC’s function as a regulator is to issue licenses, approve tariffs, ensure liberalization of the sector, improve service delivery, protect consumers, and create a vibrant electricity sector.

According to Atty Kla Edward Toomey, the process is part of the 2015 regulatory law and is part of the requirements for giving lenses to companies that are providing electricity services to citizens in their control areas.

He said it was an important activity because it is good to get those who are benefiting from the electricity involved in the process.

Atty Toomey said that it will keep the citizens informed because when tariffs are announced, it will not take them by surprise. After all, they will already have prior knowledge of how much they are charged and how much they are to pay.

He said it would help the electricity companies and the Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The Commissioner told us that they have been carrying the excesses in some areas where companies are providing electricity to the people. He said that they would be in Gbarnga today because JEP is also providing electricity there.

Providing an update on their activities in the county, Jungle Energy Power General Manager Aliou Keita gave the background of their company and the overview of their operations in Bong and Nimba counties.

He said that they are not a power-generating company, but rather, they are receiving electricity from the Ivory Coast and selling it to make a profit.

He outlined some of their activities and challenges they are faced with, for example, he said that while they are providing electricity to residents in their control areas, they can find it difficult to speak directly to their Ivorian counterparts because the agreement signed between LEC is the Ivorian Government states that when there is a problem on the line where the electricity goes off, JEP should contact LEC for them to contact the Ivorian counterparts before the problem can be solved.

Citizens who attended the one hearing expressed some of the problems they can face and asked JEP to resolve them. Some of the issues raised by the customers to JEP were the abrupt outages of electricity without prior notice, paying of services of transfer of meters, and buying of wire, among others.

Responding to some of the issues raised by the customers, Commissioner Toomey told reporters that the LERC will look at the ones within their reach to help them while it will also talk with the LEC to talk with its partners from the Ivorian side.

For his part, Keita appreciated the LERC for bringing the customers face to face with the company to hear some of the constraints they have been encountering, adding it has placed them in a better position to help solve some of them.

The one-day hearing brought together commissioners from the Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission, top management of Jungle Energy Power, a representative from the office of District #1 Samuel Brown, the mayor of Gompa, and customers of JEP, among others.