Ethiopian Electric Service announced preparations to reduce power outages during the upcoming rainy season. Line inspections and repairs have been carried out in Addis Ababa and nationwide.
Executive Gebeyehu Likasa of Ethiopian Electric Service said studies have identified causes of outages. Replacing old lines and boosting capacity are underway at significant cost. In Addis Ababa 1,750 km and nationwide 62,274 km of medium lines were inspected. 67,131 transformers were examined. This led to fixes for 92 percent of distribution network problems and 86 percent of transformer issues. Over the past nine months 3,099 km of medium and low lines were rebuilt. Projects in Harar, Wolayta, Shashemene, Debre Markos, Gondar and Kombolcha were completed. Monthly outage frequency in Addis Ababa fell from 27 to 15.