Africa-Press – Angola. Two hundred and one million, 895 thousand, 152 kwanzas were collected in the first quarter of the current year, by the Distribution Center of the National Energy Company, in the province of Cunene, representing a decrease of two percent compared to the same period last year.
The information was provided, by ENDE’s Institutional Communication and Press agent in Cunene, Luís Capitango, stating that the reduction is due to customers’ failure to pay for electricity consumption.
The person responsible made it known that in terms of billing, in the first three months of 2024, it was around 261 million, 354 thousand and 906 kwanzas, while in the same period of 2023 the record was 253 million, 897 thousand and 792 kwanzas.
Luís Capitango highlighted that currently the global debt of customers towards the company is set at one billion and 600 million kwanzas, a value well above what was collected into the State’s coffers.
To review the value of the debt, he said, the company adopted policies and a package of services that include negotiations to be settled in installments, but unfortunately many of these only appear when cuts are imminent.
He highlighted home consumers as the most indebted and called on them to go to his premises to negotiate and pay out debt agreements in installments.
In terms of new connections, he said that in the period in question 129 families benefited from electricity, compared to 171 previously.
He justified that as part of service improvements, the company plans to carry out the requalification process of the Naipalala neighborhood in May to benefit more than 600 customers.
He highlighted the electrical expansion project at the Cahama headquarters, where a 250 kilowatt PT was installed, with only the completion of the low voltage extension that will cover 500 new customers.
For Ombadja, he said there are major limitations in energy production, which is in its fifth month, due to the reduction in installed production power, resulting from the damage recorded in the thermal component of the Xangongo hybrid plant.
“Ombadja is experiencing difficult times of restrictions at peak times, as the production capacity of five MW is far below the current 0.7, which makes it impossible to meet customer demand”, he explained.
Despite this, he praised the initiative of the local administration, which acquired five transformation stations for maintenance work and requalification of existing assets, which will guarantee energy access for more than two thousand families.
ENDE controls 22 thousand customers in the municipal offices of Cuanhama Ombadja, Cahama, Namacunde and the village of Santa Clara.
With an installed power of 59,115 megawatts, the electrical system in the province of Cunene is interconnected only in the municipalities of Cuanhama and Namacunde, with energy produced from the Ondjiva thermal plant.
As for Ombadja, energy is produced through the Xangongo hybrid plant, with a capacity of five megawatts, and Cahama with a 1030 KVA generator group.
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