LEC issue finally gets resolved! 🔌💡⚡🔦

My staff Farman Ali sent us this photograph on 8 January on our company NATC group chat. I had an idea that instead of Haresh or I going to LEC to make noise and that our national staff doesn't seem to be able to impress upon the LEC, we should send our expatriate staff. So, he went to LEC office in Bushrod Island to follow up but it was closed. He waited until he found some staff to speak with.

Then the same day, a crew came over to check our meter. There were 6 or 7 members in that team! 

The crew sorted out the issue. Our meter was working and they got us back. What a relief! Of course Haresh gave them a small tip. 

So, it was a matter of:

1) Writing a formal letter of complaint detailing the problem.

2) Going in person several times to the LEC offices. 

Next, we will follow up with the issues at our apartment. 

By the way, the LEC service has been quite stable. 

Further LEC headaches

After about 2 weeks of having to run our generator every day (this is $ 20.00 of fuel per day), I was quite frustrated! 

Before our meter went off, we had just topped up our meter with 200 units which we were not able to use!

I asked our expatriate staff, Farman, to go personally to the LEC and follow up. He went with our Liberian techie, Daniel, last Saturday. They visited both the Waterside and Bushrod Island offices. They had taken an official letter of complaint also with them. They were not able to submit the letter and then went to the Bushrod Island office where apparently Daniel found a friend who works there. I don't think much transpired and, of course, nothing was done that Saturday.

We came back to work on 2 January and, I saw that Farman had not gone to the LEC to file the letters and then follow up. I told him to proceed. But all he really did was file the letter without making any noise. 

The next day, he was a little fired up and, asked for a contact from a Pakistani friend he has here (who  works at a company in Bushrod Island). He was directed to someone at Bushrod Island who sent a crew back with him! 

The crew managed to put our light back on (so what the other technician said during the previous visit was completely wrong)! 

However, only 2 phases worked and half our work stations could not come on. I asked Farman to see if we can manage with extension cords. 

This morning, only 1 phase is working. I asked Farman to follow up again and get it sorted out. 

What adds to one's frustration is that staff doesn't seem to have the sense of urgency to get problems resolved like a manager/business owner does. What's the end result? Even more grey hairs! 

Experiences with LEC Management 🇱🇷 🔌💡⚡🔦

Our experiences with the LEC don't give us much hope that infrastructure and public services are improving. 

I wrote about the experience of a fire sparking on the pole just at eye level near our apartment's balcony and, even posted about it on the Liberia Expats Google Group. Received a lot of responses and similar frustrating experiences. 

Since then, the pole near our apartment where we live didn't spark again thankfully but it's always a lingering anxiety. What if it sparks again? Will we be at home? Who will douse it? 

Since then, I started writing to the LEC Manager, Ernest Hughes, who at first was quite apologetic and sympathetic with the poor service i.e. lack of response to our calls. His explanation for weaknesses at the LEC were: "Most of the expansion of LEC has happened through donors, hence LEC has not grown logistically to handle the increased demand. " (E-mail 24 November)

To this, I wrote a long response back providing examples of difficult it is to get assistance from Customer Service, there isn't any clearly published information and contacts, the bribes the ground crew almost always demand bribes, etc. 

I kept writing to the LEC management, including Ernest Hughes, to ask for help with issues at both our locations: apartment and office. For example, for weeks, the office LEC's voltage was too low:

1) Phase 1: 125 volts

2) Phase 2: 70 volts

3) Phase 3: 65 volts 

And, at the house, the voltage was slightly better although the 3rd phase (on which we have our security lights and 1 AC) was almost off: 

1) Phase 1: 170/180 volts

2) Phase 2: 170/180 volts

3) Phase 3: 9 volts

We kept writing seeking assistance (since 24 November) and then on 11 December a crew came over only to say they didn't have the ladder to go up on the pole. When I wrote back on the same e-mail thread and said, I was 'astonished!' to which the LEC Manager responded angrily:

"Farzana, This is going too far with your disrespect for my organization. Your emails are coming across as very rude and unsavory. I will not tolerate your constant jabs at our processes, unless you do so professionally. 

We doing the best that we can and will continue to provide you the right service. However, if you feel that our service is not good enough, as a customer you have every right to pursue other options. LEC is less than 6 years old;  it takes time to improve an organization. 

I will no longer tolerate the tone of these messages to me and my staff.

Regards" 

I was shocked at this response which told me I had no right to get frustrated and moreover, I could go find another company. I had to apologise and said I was merely frustrated. 

Our meter at the office completely went off on 18 or 17 December. We kept writing and calling Joseph Howes (Asst Managing Director | Transmission&Distribution) until he sent a crew on 27 December. The crew came over with all the equipment and manpower necessary, so it seemed. 

Photographs below are from 27 December:

At first the crew said no meter on the pole matched our meter number. Then he said the only 3-phase meter on the pole was off : "It was not powering on." We produced LEC receipts and, then he realised indeed our meter was up there. But he still confirmed that it was not coming on and, we needed to call his boss. After he left, one of my staff said, when he was on the pole, he never said the meter was not coming on. He was not interested in fixing the problem. 

Of course, all subsequent calls to Joseph Howe did not yield anything and he stopped taking my calls. I also stopped writing on the e-mail thread to the LEC Management. 

I ask our readers, are the experiences described above and elsewhere in our blog a issue of lack of logistical resources or mismanagement?

Farzana Rasheed, CEO, NATC

LEC Mismanagement 🔌💡⚡🔦

See a message I posted below at the Liberia Expats Google Group. It's a closed Google Group which doesn't only have 'expatriate' members but also many Liberians and members of the Lebanese and Indian business communities. It's a useful forum to share and exchange information and, in this case, share frustrations. 

Dear friends,

It’s ironic that a Safe Streets Festival is being organised tomorrow but what about safety and improvement of LEC services? We have had a fire break out on our pole twice and both times we called the Emergency Hotline (Dixon on 0886 705715) and until now, no one has showed up. We rang them up again now and they said, ‘Don’t talk to much.’ 

Not only is LEC’s customer service extremely poor (it takes weeks and weeks to process a request and, we always have to tip the field technicians otherwise they will literally not do the work), but even reports of a fire will not wake them up! 

We pay some of the highest tariffs for electricity in the world but service and quality is poor. The LEC was mostly on in the rainy season but since the dry season started, voltage has been unstable (damaging equipment) and voltage is low. If you get something damaged, you will bear the costs. If the voltage is too low, you’ll have to spend extra money to run a generator. 

The LEC has been supported by donors, has its management outsourced and, money has been pumped in to restart the hydro. But it’s mismanaged, corrupt and frustrating! Our company (NATC) even shared its experiences on Bush Chicken but even such stories on public media don’t embarrass the management at LEC. 

That even requests to send technicians to check a fire did not produce any response from the LEC is shocking and scary! 

My husband had to put out the fire using a fire extinguisher, leaning out from the balcony and burnt himself. Ironically, the fire was at the same level as our balcony so he could lean out of the balcony and put out the fire. 

These are raw, frightening and disturbing experiences. Let folks know what the state of infrastructure and management is in Monrovia! 

Any advice on how to reach out to the highest LEC management will be appreciated. 

Regards, Farzana

These are responses that came up on the group:

1) Sorry but nobody is able to manage it. Maybe they're lacking resources. At the customer care center they're looking at you like is your fault. We are waiting for one month for the pole meter to be changed. Not even one reply from them. All your credit that you have on that meter is gone, nobody is talking to you. There are LEC employees who are ready to sale and install a meter for you for $350. Meter that probably was stolen before from somebody else, by themselves. It's discouraging. God bless Liberia!

2) I have eight years of bad experience dealing with LEC. I tried acquiring their service for 5yrs without success. Finally, I happened to work with a firm that managed and funded some of their activities. I discovered that I already had three separate connections, unbeknownst to me.

But fast forward to about six month ago. I needed my meter relocated from a public pole to a private pole. At customer service, yet I was the only one sitting, I had to shout my way through. They requested diagram, letter, estimate of current distance and then proposed relocation distance...plus more. Being an old unhappy customer, I had all those at hand. I was processed and asked to expect a call within two to three weeks. 

That was over six months ago. But I just needed to document my claim. I contracted some of the very workers to relocate my meter. Case closed.

Rome can a very complex city when you are from Egypt.

3) Early this month we noticed unusual brightness in all our light bulbs and many phone chargers damaged .when we tested the Voltage guess what?340 volts .-:)

4) I advise you all to install overvoltage to protect all your electrical equipment . You can buy it from powerline randall street. 

5) We experienced the same problem. As a restaurant it was double the frustratipn since we had to get a smaller generator as a back.up.for a back.up.generator. After all is done.they fix it and a mo th later they bring a new meter that on.its own.is consuming 1-2 kw per minute so now i have current but had to pay 3 times normal spending. Even when im using the generator and the lec is not connected our new meter still.consumes our credit on its own 

6) Hi Farzana

I had a court case against LEC. It started 6 years ago after they failed to connect my house in Congo Town, after having paid fees and bribes to get connected for two years, amounting to 2000 USD. The court case went on for 4 years until the chief justice ordered them to pay me back my money plus all the legal fees up to 10.500 USD now. 

Many times I had appealed to the (always changing)  management but all the consecutive CEO's didn't care.

Of all the corrupt and ineffective institutions in Liberia LEC is certainly in the top 10.

Only pressure from very high levels can make them move at all. They have a monopoly so, why should they care about the customers?

Good luck fighting the dragon

7) We all have the same or similar horrow stories. Its just blatant wicked corruption. Please let us know if this Joseph Howe does resolve yours, because we gave up on calling them since our pole has burnt so many times that it is actually out.

8) Call Joseph Howe on 0886884592. He should handle it..

NATC's blog post is featured in the Bush Chicken

Our blog post by Haresh Karamchandani was featured in The Bush Chicken!! Yoo hoo! 🙌🏾 

We shared the blog post on the Liberia Expats Google Group and it was picked up by The Bush Chicken. 

Bush Chicken is dedicating this week to electricity so it's nice to have our experience be part of the various stories on infrastructure.

This encourages us to keep writing! 

LEC Woes ⚡

by Haresh Karamchandani

The Liberia ElectricityCorporation is the only entity that supplies electricity to Liberia. No competition.

In the good old days before the war started, they had a fully functional Hydro-Electric Power station at Mount Coffee which not only supplied power to Liberia but also to the neighboring countries. The grid was well planned and laid out. Cables ran throughout the length and breadth of Liberia. I don’t remember owning a generator or hearing the hum of generator during those good old days. I also remember visiting the LEC stations in Bushrod Island, where they had huge turbine type generation plants, powered by diesel. These were used as a stand by just in case the hydro needed maintenance or had any breakdown, which was very rare.

The war came and brought along widespread looting, rampaging of the infrastructure. All the cables and towers were stolen and sold as scrap which was shipped out by the ship load to metal scrap hungry countries. The hydro power station was bombed, burnt, looted. Completely destroyed.

As the war ended and peace times began, things normalized, and generators became the norm. Every business, household, had to install a generator in order to have electricity. Some smart business people installed huge generators around town and ‘supplied” current at exorbitant prices.

Recently, the hydro has been rehabilited at a cost of several hundred million dollars. One can see new infrastructure, cables, poles all over the country, but alas the LEC woes continue.

I wish to narrate what we have gone through recently.

We had a single phase meter installed by LEC to supply current to our residence on Randall street.

The breaker kept tripping, and also on 2 separate occasions the meter burnt out. We would write a letter to LEC Commercial Department and follow up on a daily basis and within about a month they would come with a replacement meter.

After the meter got burnt out for the third time in less than a year, the LEC advised that we should apply for a 3-phase meter as possibly the single phase meter is unable to handle the load from our airconditioners. We promptly applied and started following up on a day to day basis.

Initially, we were told that they do not have new 3 phase meters in stock and have ordered them and are waiting for delivery. After waiting for a month, we finally were able to strike a deal with an LEC official who said they could help. The meter came the same day and was installed. But it was not as easy as that.

Even though we had a brand new 3 phase meter, we did not have electricity. The LEC crew said that there was an issue with some phases in the main line that would need to be fixed, before we could start getting current. I had accumulated a few telephone numbers of LEC field men and kept pestering them daily. Finally, one day they came and rectified the problem and after “tipping them $200.00” our LEC at home was restored.

Last night, the LEC went off, and came back on after 30 minutes. But no, it did not come on properly. Only 2 phases are working and the 3^rd phase is reading 22v only. Half the house does not have electricity.

Back to square one? Well, yes, this is Liberia. I have written to LEC and will start calling them up until they can come and fix the issue. Till then we will have to use our back-up Generator, which is another story altogether.

LEC Crew comes to our aid

We have not had light at our house for 2 weeks. We rang up LEC every day, twice a day. Finally, the crew arrived late at night. One of the crew climbed up the pole, fiddled with something, and came back down after 1 minute. The light was back on. We spent $ 20.00 on a tip because crew coming at this house expect tips.

You'll see a photograph of Head of Operations, Haresh, down in the street with the crew.

With all the ups and downs with LEC service, I'm finally beginning to appreciate some business owners' frustration who do not even depend on LEC. They are fully dependent on generators.