Auditing Post Conflict Electric Power Supply Reliability Challenges: A Case Study of Low Voltage Distribution Networks in Aksum, Northern Ethiopia

Abstract Conflicts in different regions of the world has made significant consequences on electric power supply appliances. This study is conducted in Aksum’s Ethiopia Low voltage (LV) electric supply lines using reliability indices SAIDI, SAIFI, CAIDI, and EENS, before, during, and post conflict. Accordingly, findings indicate severe reliability problems occurred due to the conflict which caused power interruption (forced and operational), infrastructure damage, displacement of skilled engineers, and poor recovery efforts. The study introduced a mixed-auditing mechanism, historical power outage data analysis, and performance based evaluation reliability indices. Results indicate that before the conflict relatively stable power supply, with manageable outage durations and energy losses. However, during the two year conflict (2020–2022) an average SAIDI value peaked at 1,626.4 hours, CAIDI flowed to 2,507.31 hours, and EENS intensified to 10,480.52 MWh, reflecting significant disruptions. Six months post-conflict, significant recovery efforts improved these metrics, though supply stability challenges persist. The resulted reliability the post conflict reliability indices exceeds international benchmarks, with SAIDI over 1–5 hours, SAIFI above 0.5, and CAIDI at 1–2 hours. Despite post- conflict improvements, high SAIFI values show supply instability. Strengthen infrastructure, improve maintenance, and enhance auditioning for reliable power.