Cameroon’s government has granted Prometal, the country’s leading steel transformation company, approval to secure 90 megawatts of electricity directly from the Electricity Development Corporation (EDC), the state-owned electricity asset manager. Final contract agreements will be finalized during negotiations scheduled from June 8 to 12, 2026, at the Prime Minister’s office in Yaoundé. A June 1 directive from Secretary-General Séraphin Magloire Fouda to Minister of Water and Energy Gaston Eloundou Essomba outlines the procedural roadmap.
Prometal joins elite group of Cameroon’s direct hydroelectric consumers
The upcoming talks will focus on finalizing the special pricing agreement granted to Prometal since February 2025 and drafting definitive contract documents. Two key agreements will be signed: a supply contract between EDC and the steel manufacturer, and a compensation agreement between EDC and the newly restructured Société camerounaise d’électricité (Socadel), formerly Eneo. Upon signing, Prometal will become only the second industrial player in Cameroon to draw power directly from hydroelectric sources, following the Cameroon Aluminium Company (Alucam).
The Alucam model has set a precedent. As Cameroon’s largest single electricity consumer—accounting for up to 40% of national output—Alucam is directly connected to the Edéa dam. Both the Edéa and Songloulou facilities now fall under Socadel’s management. Prometal, however, will source its energy from EDC-operated dams, including Lom Pangar with its 30 MW foot-of-dam plant, and Memve’élé, which delivers peak output of 211 MW.
Prometal’s energy demand triples in three years
This shift to direct supply aligns with Prometal’s rapid industrial expansion. The group operates five facilities in the Douala-Bassa industrial zone—Prometal 1, 2, and 3, Profab, and Progaz—where energy consumption surged from 26 MW in 2024 to 40 MW in 2025. Projections indicate a rise to 60 MW in 2026 and 90 MW in 2027 with the launch of Proalu, a sixth plant dedicated to aluminum sheet and electrical cable production.
For a heavy industry player of this scale, securing a stable, cost-effective energy supply is critical to competitiveness. The traditional grid, plagued by chronic inefficiencies across generation, transmission, and distribution, could no longer support this growth without disrupting production lines. Direct supply through EDC provides access to hydroelectric tariffs based on water rights, bypassing traditional network bottlenecks.
EDC eyes financial boost from new industrial partnership
From EDC’s perspective, the deal represents more than just a supply arrangement—it’s a lifeline for financing new projects. The company’s business model relies on water royalty revenue and reinvestment into infrastructure. However, persistent payment delays from Socadel, its long-standing customer, have strained this system. Prometal’s arrival as a creditworthy counterparty injects much-needed liquidity into EDC’s cash flow. Insiders point to several stalled projects now in line for funding: the Mbakaou hydropower plant (expanded to 400 MW), the Memve’élé 2 expansion, and a proposed 50 MW solar plant at the Memve’élé site.
The financial footprint of Prometal in Cameroon’s electricity sector is substantial. Between 2016 and 2025, the group paid a total of 42 billion FCFA in electricity bills to Eneo (now Socadel) and the national transmission company Sonatrel—an average of 4.2 billion FCFA annually. Redirecting these payments to EDC could rebalance sector dynamics and accelerate consolidation of the state’s electricity asset portfolio.
