Power interruption costs to industries in Cameroon

Abstract

This study focusses on the estimation of power interruption costs to industries in Cameroon. Those interruptions are the result of perturbations sustained by the power network. A normalised direct worth (NDW) approach was used as a direct method for assessment, while the compensatory estimation method (CEM) was used for indirect assessment. A survey was conducted with a representative sample of industries in Cameroon using a questionnaire as the main research instrument. The results show that power interruption losses are very significant. Using the direct method for assessment, the average outage cost varies from €3.62/kWh to €5.42/kWh for a 1-h interruption and from 1.96/kWh to €2.46/kWh for a 4-h outage. The study finds that advance suspension notices could help in reducing outage costs by 19.83–33%. With the indirect method, the total capital costs and total running costs of generators are approximately €180,040,180.08 and €4,305,510.6, respectively, while the average cost per unused kWh of electricity stands at €3.37/kWh. The study concludes that power interruptions have a significant negative effect on industries in Cameroon.