At least 7 ministries in the dark over electricity arrears

At least seven government ministries have in the last two days gone without electricity following a withdrawal of services by an electricity company over four months’ arrears.

Goobjoog News has established that the ministries of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry, Livestock, Petroleum and Public Works have been in the dark after Beco Electricity Company disconnected power. Others are Water and Energy and Labour and Social Affairs.

Officials in these ministries who wished to remain anonymous told Goobjoog News the utility company Beco disconnected electricity to their offices following arrears running to four months. “We go a warning earlier from Beco to pay off the electricity charges but the ministry does not have money to offset the costs,” a senior official at the ministry of Petroleum said.

An operational manager from Beco who sought anonymity confirmed the disconnection to the government ministries but said the matter had been resolved. “We held discussions and resolved the matter today.”

According to the 2018 budget, out of the seven ministries affected, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry got the highest budget allocation at $2.1 million while the Ministry of Livestock got the least-$986,236.

The Ministry of Agriculture was allocated $1.1 million, Energy and Water ($1.1m) while Public Works and Reconstruction got $1.1 million and Labour ($1.5m).