CEOs from a number of Central Africa’s leading power utilities, including DRC’s SNEL, Cameroon’s SONATREL and Congo Brazzaville’s SNE, attended last week’s annual Utility CEO Forum: Central Africa.
Leading expert partners in the industry, Oracle Utilities, Conlog, Nyamezela and Eaton, provided expert insights during the discussions with the utility executives that take place under Chatham Rule.
Also part of the panel was the Forum’s developmental partners, the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF), African Development Bank (AfDB) and Union of Producers, Transporters and Distributors of Electric Power in Africa (APUA). Another panellist was the Central African Power Pool’s Permanent Secretary, Jean-Chrysostome Mekondongo.
The event manager Nomvuyo Tena describes as “robust” the discussions that took place during last week’s invitation-only two-day gathering that was facilitated through a live, online webinar.
“Even before COVID-19 changed the way we work and do business,” says Tena, “most utility CEOs expressed the need to unpack their biggest challenge – financial sustainability. The Utility CEO Forum for the Central African region, had key objectives, with the first day being focused on understanding how utility CEOs navigate challenges. Utility CEOs looked at the role cost-reflective tariffs play in the financial sustainability of a utility when balancing electricity access, political interests, regulator influence and currency depreciation. CEOs also unpacked who would be the most important stakeholder in achieving financial sustainability.” Read more…
