Saturday, 17.3.2007: Phnom Penh Will Be Short About 20 Megawatts Of Electricity During This Hot Season
The Mirror, Vol. 11, No. 499
“Phnom Penh: When the hot season arrives, Phnom Penh and Takhmao [Kandal] are facing a lack of electricity, which is a heavy burden that has not yet been solved. It causes some areas in these two cities to have frequent power cut-offs, especially during the day, affecting the daily lives of the citizens.
“Mr. Chea Synhel, the director of the Electricity Network and Distribution Department of Electricité du Cambodge, said yesterday evening on the phone, that it is true that in the hot reason, there will be a lack of electricity in Phnom Penh, which will result in the power being cut off in each area some times every day, especially during the day.
“He added that the supply of electricity is running short by 20 megawatts at this time. Concerning the lack of electricity, Electricité du Cambodge has been gradually taking measures to solve this problem, and has been creating small generators to generate more power to some extent, by obtaining approximately 10 megawatts more, but there is still a lack of 10 megawatts.
“Normally, the demand for electricity is 160 megawatts, and there is still a lack of 10 to 20 megawatts which would be sufficient to meet the needs of customers to use every day. But as for the lack of electricity at this time, Electricité du Cambodge has two objectives for a solution to implement urgently. The first objective is to create small generators to help generate more electric power. The second is that the company is going to contact big customers – companies, enterprises, hotels, factories, and so on – asking them to help by using their private generators to avoid using state electricity..
“Mr. Chea Synhel added that the first objective can be achieved by creating small generators, but it is very difficult to achieve the second objective, because he did not know whether or not the owners of companies, enterprises, factories, and hotels would accept this request. If they accepted this request, there would, to a certain extent, be sufficient electricity, and it would also be not so serious as nowadays. The reason for the lack of electricity is that in Phnom Penh, there is a high level of development from one year to another; therefore, there is a lack of power every year, even though the electricity supply increases from one year to another. In 2006, the city of Phnom Penh had only 130 megawatts of power in the first six months, and the power increased to 150 or 160 megawatts in the second six months. But until 2007, Phnom Penh has a high level of development, because big companies are trying to use a lot of state electricity; therefore, the lack of electricity increases every year.
“Because of the lack of electricity, Electricité du Cambodge requested customers who use Cambodian public electricity to understand this problem, because this lack might extend also to mid 2008. But even so experts at Electricité du Cambodge are trying to seek solutions to the lack of electricity so that it will not disappoint the Cambodian citizens.” Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.6, #1293, 17.3.2007
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Saturday, 17 March 2007
Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.6, #1293, 16.3.2007
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Phnom Penh Will Be Short About 20 Megawatts Of Electricity During This Hot Season - Authorities Ban Khmer Krom Monks From Going To Chant For The Monk Who Was Killed [this month; despite the ban, the monk chanted from a nearby place out of the pagoda located in Kompong Speu]
- Civil Society Is Very Concerned About Impact On Health From Food Sold At Markets [vegetables and fruit were found containing chemical substances: Borax, Formalin, Sodium Hydrosulfite,and insecticides]
- Samdech Prime Minister Received Vietnamese Minister Of Defense [Mr. Phung Quang Thanh]
Koh Santepheap, Vol.40, #5993, 17-18.3.2007
- Election Campaign Has Started; Cambodian People’s Party Started At Local Levels Throughout The Country While Sam Rainsy Party Started From Phnom Penh [toward provinces]
Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.14, #3112, 17-18.3.2007
- The Ministry Of Economy And Finance Files Complaint Against Prince Chakrapong [for owing US$1.3 million to the government]; The Prince Threatens To Reveal The Truth Concerning The Coup And The Attempt To Create Autonomous Zones [in 1997 and 1993; the Prince said he has only two old planes for the government to take]
Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.15, #4238, 17.3.2007
- No Report Of Violence During The First Day Of Election Campaign [for the commune elections to be held on 1 April 2007]
- Court Decided To Charge Krom Preah [Prince Ranariddh] Over Adultery [this is an old issue but the court just mentioned it again]
Sralanh Khmer, Vol.3, 355, 17.3.2007
- Sam Rainsy Party Launched Its First Campaign In Phnom Penh, Battambang, and Kompong Cham
The Mirror 
Today’s feature article about the power shortage in Phnom Penh makes one wonder if the government does not know or simply does not care about the importance of sufficient energy for the growth of Cambodia.
I always assumed the problem is mainly in the distribution network and the outages are due to a overload and failure of the network but it turns out EDC has missed that GDP growth was/is 8-10% over the past years and apparently no planning has gone into resolving the issue before it becomes critical.
However that does not seam to be a unique situation in Cambodia; it strongly reminds me of another network that also sells more then the got.
a Reader
19 March 2007