Sao Tome, Aug. 22, 2025 (Lusa) - The Sao Tome and Principe Water and Electricity Company (Emae) announced on Thursday that it would rationalise its energy supply for 60 days, following the unilateral suspension of the electricity production contract by the company owned by Turkish investors, Tesla STP.
The information was provided by the director of Emae, Raúl Cravid, who considered that "there was no reason for Tesla to act in the way it did", since negotiations were underway, including with the direct participation of the prime minister, Américo Ramos.
He also pointed out that the government had “made a first payment of €240,000” on its debts with the company.
According to Raúl Cravid, Tesla decided to suspend the electricity supply on Tuesday 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.
"We can't go on like this. A company holding a country hostage, the way it does, is authoritarian. At times, it even wants to take away what I call the sovereignty of the state. No! We can't go on like this. We all need to start thinking seriously about the country," emphasised Raúl Cravid.
According to the director of Emae, Tesla STP currently produces "only 3 megawatts", but the government is contractually obliged to pay for 10 megawatts at all times.
Faced with Tesla STP's decision to suspend the contract, Emae has begun to rationalise the energy supply with constant cuts, but has promised to overcome the situation within a maximum of 60 days.
"We're going to find technical solutions so that, within a maximum of 60 days, our population can once again have permanent power, 24 hours a day [...]. I hope the population understands. We're going to go through some difficult days, but we're going to sort it out," Raúl Cravid assured us.
In July, Tesla STP threatened to stop operations in the energy sector in Sao Tome and Principe, claiming that the state owed it €7.5 million, but postponed the decision, accepting "discussions aimed at resolving the current situation and identifying a mutually beneficial agreement for outstanding payments and any other contractual issues".
The agreement with Tesla STP was signed by the government of former Prime Minister Patrice Trovoada in 2023, based on a law that exempted the prior approval of the Court of Auditors (TC), which in June detected several irregularities in the contract, including over-invoicing and “tax exemptions” that represented “losses of at least €52,282,555” for the Sao Tome state.
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