The Somaliland Energy Commission has moved in to stop the rising cost of electricity supply in the country.
The commission has directed electricity providers to halt any increase in the cost of power saying it was unwarranted and unlawful.
In a statement, the commission questioned the legality of a price hike that came as a result of unlawful consultations among providers.
Terming the move as selfish, the commission said the providers took their profits and interests into consideration without properly gauging how the move would affect citizens’ lives across the spectrum.
“That providers come together to conspire against subscriber welfare is by itself unlawful and in direct contravention of free-market ethics,” said the commission chairman Ahmed Farah Adarre.
Providers had raised the rate per kilowatt from $0.3/0.5 to $0.84 across the country without prior notice, and without waiting for consultations the providers had started with the Commission. Some of these providers have been generously supported by the World Bank’s SEIT program in order to make access to electricity accessible to the masses – the exact opposite of the step they have taken.
