Sao Tome, Aug. 27, 2025 (Lusa) - The Prime Minister of Sao Tome has promised a "less costly" energy solution than that of Turkish investor Tesla-STP, which decided last week to suspend its electricity supply.
The company unilaterally suspended the contract worth around €455,000 per month, citing debts accumulated by the authorities.
According to Américo Ramos, who was speaking after visiting the Empresa de Água e Eletricidade (Emae) power station, where generators are being serviced, the Sao Tome technicians “have managed to recover almost 80% of what was taken off the grid by Tesla” and “there are prospects” of recovering more machines to improve the situation even further in the next 15 to 20 days.
"Any solution the government finds will be less expensive than Tesla. Because with Tesla, we clearly saw that [...] EMAE can't pay $530,000 [€455,086,000] a month to a company that says it produces 10, but delivers four or five [megawatts]. It can't," said Américo Ramos.
The prime minister of Sao Tome said that currently, without the three megawatts produced by Telsa-STP, Emae's energy production level is around 12 megawatts, and at least 17 are needed to supply the country regularly.
"The government will always support the company [Emae], it will give the company enough support so that it can create the conditions to produce the energy needed to supply the population," he assured.
Américo Ramos also said that the government is working with the World Bank and other partners, with "the possibility of private companies coming in to produce energy" from photovoltaic, hydroelectric and other sources, to speed up the energy transition process over the next 12 months.
The head of the Sao Tome government considered that an agreement with Tesla-STP would be difficult, emphasising that the government has advocated that the contract signed in 2023 by the previous government headed by former Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada (2022-2025) be amended in accordance with the recommendations of the Court of Auditors, which detected several irregularities, including over-invoicing the state.
"These recommendations were followed to the letter in the negotiation process. What comes next is for the judicial authorities to say," emphasised Américo Ramos.
Last week, the director general of Emae, Raúl Cravid, announced that Tesla had decided to suspend the electricity supply on Tuesday of last week, after giving the government an ultimatum, demanding a further payment, the amount of which was not revealed, within 24 hours.
The director of Emae called for the intervention of "the state's defence counsel" to amend or revoke the current contract between the São Toméan government and Tesla STP.
"As long as the contract isn't renegotiated or cancelled, the debts are accumulating to the tune of €500,000 a month. And whoever has to take care of this, legally speaking, has to do so," warned Raúl Cravid, assuring all technical support for the defence of the interests of the São Toméan state.
Raúl Cravid accused Tesla STP of adopting attitudes that violate the principle of good faith, acknowledging "the help of that invisible hand", which he refused to name, but said lived outside Sao Tome and Principe, implying that he was referring to the former prime minister, Patrice Trovoada.
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