EEPCo mired in confusion

Dismissed former officials reappear

By Groum Abate

 The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has appointed recently reshuffled employees to different position in the corporation starting this week.
Sources told Capital that Tesfaye Melese, who was dismissed from his position as manager of EEPCo’s Southern District of Addis Ababa is now assigned to the operations support unit in the head office. A former Eastern district manager by the name of Solomon has also been reassigned to the power plant operations department at the Addis Ababa Regional office.
According to our sources Alemu Igsa, recently appointed manager of Southern District office has now lost his position. Our sources also disclosed that Moges Belachew, Akaki District replaces Alemu Igsa, at the Southern district. Abay Belete who served as the corporate Transformer and Switch Gear Manager at Addis Ababa Region will now manage Akaki district.
EEPCo started reshuffling its senior managers some six months ago in a bid to implement the new civil service reform. According to our sources the reshuffling and reappointing process is expected to continue in the coming two weeks.
In related news, officials of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) including the general manager Mihiret Debebe are discussing how to solve customers’ complaint resulting from the change of the four-month electricity consumption averaging system into the month-to-month consumption rate setting. Customers are burdened with huge electrical consumption that the previous billing system missed for years, and are now asked to pay the accumulated amounts.
Now that EEPCo has switched back to the old system of actually reading the meters every month, both customers and EEPCo seem to be in a state of confusion. Officials of the Corporation are now discussing ways of sorting out the problem swiftly.
EEPCo employees who go door to door to read the meters were assigned in other departments for the last six years. They are now said to be back at their old posts starting this month. The Corporation is now doubling its manpower for the implementation of the new method.
It is also reported that EEPCo opened eight new billing collection centers raising its collection centers to twenty-eight. .