Turkish power firm operating in Sierra Leone, Karpowership, has served notice to cut power supply to the country’s capital city, Freetown, over a $100 million unpaid debt.
In a statement issued by the Sierra Leonean Ministry of Energy, the country confirmed that Karpowership served them a notice on May 28, 2025, that they would disconnect power supply to Freetown at midnight on June 12.
The ship will also be leaving the shores of the coastal capital, if the Sierra Leonean Government does not pay the nearly $100 million arrears owed it .
This is part of efforts to recover outstanding debt owed to Karpowership which the company said has gone unpaid for over two years.
Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Energy has however said the company agreed to dispatch only 6 mega watt (MW) of power to keep hospitals, schools, and water facilities in operation following negotiations.
“Despite the notice of disconnection, Karpowership made a commitment to maintaining a 6MW supply of electricity for essential services and critical facilities like hospitals,” the ministry said.
Also in a press release issued on Tuesday, Karpowership stated that while it remains committed to supporting the people of Sierra Leone with reliable electricity, the financial burden has become unsustainable.
“Even now, Karpowership does not want to cut electricity since it would impact critical infrastructures,” the company said, reiterating its continued effort to prioritize essential services despite mounting financial strain.
“We fully understand the financial challenges currently facing the Government of Sierra Leone and have consistently sought ways to help mitigate the impact. But the prolonged delay in payments has reached a point where we can no longer meet our obligations to suppliers—particularly fuel providers,” the statement read.
The Ministry of Energy however said that there will be some power cuts and assured residents of Freetown that such load shedding would be properly managed.
Backstory
In January 2025, high-level discussions were held between senior government officials and Karpowership representatives in Istanbul to address the growing debt.
A payment plan was mutually agreed upon and endorsed by the Minister of Finance, the Chairman of the Energy Sector, and the Director General of the Electricity Distribution and Supply Authority (EDSA).
However, Karpowership revealed that the plan was not honored, with the first installment for January already delayed by February.
Despite direct engagements and multiple follow-up reminders in April, the government failed to meet its financial commitments.
The situation prompted the company to issue a suspension notice on 28 May 2025, requesting an immediate payment of 30% of the outstanding arrears.
This isn’t the first time Karpowership will cut power to Freetown. In September of 2023, Karpowership turned off the power following an unpaid debt of $40 million.
Karpowership, one of the world’s largest operators of floating power plants and part of the Karadeniz Energy Group, signed deals in 2018 and 2020 to provide electricity to Sierra Leone’s state power utility.
The company says on its website that it had deployed around 65 megawatt power generation capacity to Sierra Leone since 2020 and has been supplying 80% of its total electricity needs.
