VIENTIANE: The Lao state-owned Electricite du Laos (EDL) plans to implement a strategy to strengthen the country's electricity supply in the second half of 2025.
According to Lao Economic Daily on Thursday (Aug 14), senior officials and staff from the EDL and related sectors met to review EDL's performance and outline strategic plans.
The EDL faced significant challenges in the first half of the year due to global and regional economic volatility, as well as a sluggish domestic recovery. These factors have affected EDL's ability to meet its performance targets, said the report.
The EDL is focussing on clear principles and policies to guide its operations and ensure alignment across departments. Staff are encouraged to work toward shared goals and follow the reform direction to improve efficiency and service delivery. It aims to provide reliable and sufficient electricity to the public while engaging in power trading to generate stable revenue for the government.
In addition, the EDL has set key objectives to drive reform. These include restructuring the organisation, management systems and workforce, adjusting electricity tariffs to reflect actual supply costs while continuing to support low-income and remote communities, renegotiating electricity generation pricing structures, and restructuring debts with banks and financial institutions.
It has also identified seven key performance indicators to measure operational effectiveness. These include ensuring electricity system stability and reliable service, reducing power outages, improving debt collection, strengthening operational foundations, increasing revenue streams, cutting administrative costs, and enhancing safety in transmission and distribution management.
To further reduce service disruptions and power outages, the EDL continues to prioritise infrastructure upgrades, including regular maintenance, replacement of aging equipment, transformer improvements and more effective system management. - Xinhua
