The state-run electric company Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) sent a letter to authorities in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district earlier this month, asking them to remove several homes allegedly built on EdC land that are interfering with a transmission sub-station.

In the letter, posted on the utility’s website yesterday, EdC director general Keo Ratanak said that an unspecified number of houses were impacting the O Bek Ka Om sub-station in Sen Sok’s Teuk Thla commune.

“The residents houses were built near the electricity poles at the sub-station, which seriously affects the transmission of power to divide electricity in Phnom Penh city and throughout the country,” the letter reads.

The letter goes on to say that the buildings could disrupt the flow of electricity, causing outages elsewhere.

“Please intervene to stop the residents from building in front of the sub-station in order to keep the space for maintaining power transmission and avoiding any electricity cut-offs in the city,” it adds.

Tan Navin, chief of Teuk Thla commune, said that local authorities will examine the buildings.

One house owner at the site yesterday, who asked not to be identified, said that he had built his house there years ago and gotten no complaints, and questioned why the EdC was only just now claiming the construction affected the utility poles.

“When we started to build, why didn’t the EdC announce the effect [on the lines]?” he asked. “How can we move the building now?”