By James T. Brooks
In a high-stakes appearance before the Liberian Senate sitting as a Committee of the Whole, the Managing Director of the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC), Mohammed M. Sheriff, provided a sobering assessment of the factors driving the country’s persistent power outages. Leading a joint briefing alongside officials from the Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC), Sheriff detailed a perfect storm of reduced electricity imports, aging domestic infrastructure, and a widening chasm between a surging national demand and stagnant generation capacity.
The core of the current crisis, according to the LEC chief, lies in a dramatic 54% increase in electricity demand over the past year. As the corporation pursued an aggressive expansion strategy that successfully connected over 60,000 new customers, the national requirement jumped from 92 megawatts to approximately 142 megawatts. However, with domestic generation currently capped at less than 100 megawatts, the system has been left with a significant deficit that the country has struggled to bridge through regional imports.
A major disruption in the supply chain occurred when Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia’s primary external power provider, suffered technical failures at its own key plants. This resulted in a loss of roughly 200 megawatts from the Ivorian grid, forcing the neighboring country to prioritize its internal needs. Consequently, Liberia’s expected 50-megawatt import plummeted to as little as 10 to 15 megawatts, a blow that immediately destabilized the local grid and forced a return to widespread load shedding. Sheriff further noted that historical legacy debts have complicated Liberia’s standing in regional power allocation negotiations, despite recent efforts by the government to keep payments current.
Beyond import issues, the briefing highlighted severe domestic constraints. The Mount Coffee Hydropower Plant, the nation’s energy centerpiece, is currently providing only 57 megawatts of its 88-megawatt installed capacity. Thermal facilities are similarly underperforming, producing between 12 and 16 megawatts. These generation shortfalls are exacerbated by an aging transmission network and overstretched transformers that are unable to efficiently dispatch even the limited power that is available.
The LEC’s decision to continue expanding connections despite these known supply limitations drew sharp questioning from lawmakers, including Grand Kru County Senator Albert T. Chie. While Senator Chie warned that this policy risks deepening public frustration, Sheriff defended the expansion as a necessary humanitarian priority, asserting that every Liberian deserves access to electricity. Nevertheless, the Senate expressed deep concern over the “demand surge without supply security,” urging a more synchronized approach between network expansion and generation planning.
The hearing also addressed internal friction within the energy sector, as the LERC criticized the LEC for significant communication failures. Regulatory officials pointed out that the utility has often failed to adequately inform the public during service disruptions, leaving consumers in the dark both literally and figuratively. In response to these concerns, the Senate emphasized that the public deserves transparency when performance drops, particularly as the Commission works to standardize tariffs and resolve billing disputes in regions like southeastern Liberia.
Looking toward the future, Sheriff outlined an ambitious roadmap to increase Liberia’s total generation capacity to between 500 and 700 megawatts by 2030 through a diversified mix of hydro, thermal, and solar investments. In the more immediate term, the government is pursuing the development of a 100-megawatt thermal plant to stabilize the grid during the dry season. Additionally, a $50 million smart metering program has been approved by the Legislature to combat technical and commercial losses, which currently stand at a staggering 40 percent. While the path to energy security remains long, the Senate concluded the session by reinforcing the need for both a strengthened infrastructure and a more informed public.
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