US$20,000 or US$723? JEDCO, Official differ over installation charges

A senior government official has questioned the fairness of electricity connection costs in Juba, saying some customers are required to spend between US$4,000 and US$20,000 or more on infrastructure, while the Juba Electricity Distribution Company (JEDCO) says a standard one-pole residential connection costs about US$723.

Paul Dhel Gum, Undersecretary in the Ministry of Transport, says customers seeking connections through JEDCO and Ezra may be required to pay for poles, transformers, cables, installation and labor, while continuing to pay electricity bills after being connected.

“The customer finances the infrastructure, pays for the connection, continues paying for the electricity consumed, and still loses ownership of the equipment purchased with his or her own money,” Gum wrote in a public statement.

But JEDCO spokesperson Joseph Thomas Lagu disputes the figures as a standard residential charge, saying connection costs depend on the type of customer and infrastructure required.

“Connection for one pole currently, as we speak, if somebody needs one pole connection from a nearby pole to his house, it is not even one thousand. It is seven hundred and twenty-three dollars,” Joseph said.

Residential and business connections differ

Joseph says ordinary households may only require one or two poles, cables and a prepaid meter to extend electricity from an existing network.

But larger businesses, including hotels and factories, can require private transformers because of their higher electricity demand.

“Those who sometimes pay for or come and request for transformers are maybe business entities,” he said, citing Pyramid and Radisson hotels as examples of facilities that may require private transformers.

Lagu says connection costs therefore vary depending on the infrastructure required.

“Extension payment, it differs. It differs from one place to another because we cannot say just four thousand, twenty thousand, eight thousand,” he said.

He questioned the basis of the US$4,000 figure cited in the public debate, saying JEDCO’s current standard charge for a one-pole residential connection is about US$723.

Why customers pay for infrastructure

The issue of infrastructure ownership remains at the center of the disagreement.

Gum questions why customers should finance poles, cables and other equipment and then lose ownership of those assets.

JEDCO says the initial payment should instead be understood as a contribution toward connecting the customer to the wider electricity network.

Joseph says the network is ultimately a government asset, while JEDCO currently acts as its custodian and is responsible for operating and maintaining it.

“The network is a government network,” Joseph said. “But currently we are the custodian. We are the one maintaining the network. We are the one repairing.”

He says customers who finance an initial connection are not expected to pay again when the equipment requires maintenance or replacement.

“If the transformer fails, we will replace it with the same capacity. Nobody will pay anything,” Joseph said.

He adds that the same responsibility applies to poles, cables and meters.

“Even the meter, if the meter got burned or something happened to it, we will replace it without you paying any penny.”

JEDCO says free connections have declined

Mr. Thomas says many residents previously benefited from externally funded electricity projects, including an African Development Bank-supported project that connected people without them paying the full infrastructure cost.

“Most of the people are connected for free,” he said.

However, he says JEDCO is currently operating mainly under an operation-and-maintenance model, rather than a fully donor-funded expansion program.

“Currently, we are not on a free project whereby you just apply and we connect it for free,” Joseph said.

He says materials such as transformers, cables and other accessories have to be imported, meaning customers seeking new connections must contribute toward the cost.

Communities can share expansion costs

JEDCO says it can also partner with communities to extend electricity to areas not covered by previous projects.

Joseph says the company can prepare a bill of quantities for an entire neighborhood and ask residents to contribute toward the cost.

“If fifty percent can at least start paying, we will connect the area,” he said.

He says JEDCO may contribute the remaining investment even when the company’s costs are not immediately recovered.

The company also allows some customers to pay connection fees in instalments, with Joseph saying customers can pay 60 percent upfront and settle the balance later. He says an earlier arrangement allowed customers to pay as little as 30 percent upfront.

The bigger question

The disagreement highlights two different concerns.

For Gum, the issue is whether customers are being fairly treated when they finance infrastructure, they do not ultimately own.

For JEDCO, the challenge is financing the expansion of an electricity network while continuing to take responsibility for maintenance and repairs.

Joseph says the initial payment is not the main source of JEDCO’s revenue, comparing the arrangement to telecommunications companies providing network access before earning revenue from subsequent usage.

“I don’t benefit from you getting connected,” he said. “The same material cost that we brought is a facilitation to make sure that you get connected.”

JEDCO maintains that US$723 is the standard charge for a basic one-pole residential connection, while acknowledging that high-load customers requiring private transformers can face significantly higher costs.

The debate has now renewed questions over how electricity network expansion should be financed, what customers should pay and who should ultimately own infrastructure they help fund.