Towards the development of an energy audit program for residents in freetown

The increasing electricity demand in Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone. has been a burden on the country’s electricity sector, since the electricity demanded by residents in Freetown outweighs the electricity generated by the nation’s Electricity Generation and Transmission Company (EGTC). This problem has resulted to power shortage leaving many areas within the capital city for hours or days without electricity supply. A major challenge faced by the country’s electricity generating sector is the losses on the distribution and transmission networks, which accounts for 34.5% losses in the capital of Freetown alone according to 2017 government electricity report. A 161 kilovolts (kV) of the national transmission network runs from a 250km Bumbuna hydroelectric power plant to the Freetown substations. Another source of electricity loss in Freetown, according to the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA), is non-technical losses resulting from human theft and illegal connections from the national grid by its residents. This paper assesses the development of an efficient energy audit program to minimise electricity loses within Freetown. This study involves the use of a quantitative data collection approach using randomly distributed questionnaires to residents within Freetown. From the data collected and analysed, shows that the development of an effective and efficient energy audit program within Freetown can minimize energy wastage in buildings as well as electricity losses.