NATIONAL NEWS
MONROVIA – The Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) has mounted a forceful defense against mounting public criticism over renewed power outages, rejecting claims of mismanagement or broken promises while laying bare a widening structural deficit in the country’s electricity supply system.
In a strongly worded press statement issued Monday, LEC accused sections of the public discourse—particularly on social media—of spreading misinformation rooted in a poor understanding of Liberia’s import-dependent electricity framework.
The utility stressed that at no point did its management claim Liberia’s power crisis had been solved, nor that seasonal and external supply risks had been eliminated.
By: Trokon S. Wrepue – trokon1992seokin@gmail.com
“Those assurances were never given,” LEC said, insisting that its communications over the past year consistently highlighted improvements in stability, not the resolution of systemic constraints.
Nine Months of Stability, But at a Cost
LEC confirmed that Liberia experienced roughly nine consecutive months of improved electricity stability—“the longest such stretch in decades”—but moved quickly to dismantle the popular belief that the improvement was simply the result of the rainy season.
Liberia, the utility noted, experiences two seasons of roughly equal duration, making it misleading to attribute nearly a year of improved supply to rainfall alone.
According to LEC, the Mt. Coffee Hydropower Plant generated about 57 megawatts (MW) during that period and continues to do so, particularly at night after reservoir recovery.
When combined with approximately 12 MW of thermal generation, total domestic output stands at just 69 MW—barely half of national demand.
Current electricity demand, LEC disclosed, has surged to about 130 MW, up from 94 MW when the current management took over. That leaves a supply gap of roughly 61 MW, which Liberia has been filling through power imports from Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea.
The recent stability, the utility said, was not accidental but the product of “operational discipline, enhanced system coordination, improved dispatch planning, and sustained regional imports,” with hydropower playing a supporting—not dominant—role.
Why the Lights Are Going Off Again
LEC squarely attributed the latest outages to scheduled maintenance on power generation facilities in Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea, which has temporarily reduced exportable electricity within the regional power pool.
“These are standard global practices,” LEC said, adding that such maintenance affects all importing countries, not Liberia alone. The corporation dismissed claims that the outages signal a collapse back to “old ways,” arguing instead that they expose Liberia’s vulnerability to external supply shocks.
A Legacy of Underinvestment
In a rare admission, LEC acknowledged that Liberia’s current predicament is the result of years of insufficient investment in domestic generation capacity. As demand grows, those historical failures are becoming harder to mask.
“Power plants cannot be built overnight,” the utility emphasized, noting that even under ideal conditions, new generation projects take at least 18 months from planning to commissioning.
Ironically, LEC argued, the very stability achieved over the past nine months helped widen the problem. Improved reliability restored confidence among households, businesses, and institutions, driving up consumption faster than supply could expand.
Despite its defensive tone, LEC stopped short of claiming victory. The corporation acknowledged that Liberia’s electricity challenge remains unresolved and said it is pursuing diversification through Independent Power Producers, domestic generation expansion, grid strengthening, and deeper regional coordination under the government’s “energy sovereignty” agenda.
LEC also conceded that public frustration—especially when outages affect hospitals and other critical infrastructure—is justified.
However, it warned that framing temporary, externally driven constraints as evidence of systemic failure undermines serious national dialogue on energy reform.
As the dry season deepens and demand continues to climb, the statement makes one reality unavoidable: Liberia’s electricity problem is no longer just about keeping the lights on—it is about whether the country can break free from structural dependence before public patience runs out.
