Electricity Generation Company (Egenco) has expressed optimism on a steady supply of electricity during this year’s rainy season.
The hope comes as the company has concluded maintenance works at Nkula B, effectively ending power outages of both Nkula A and B stations which affected power supply in the country over the weekend.
In a statement, Egenco says intake screens which were dislodged at Nkula B have been replaced.
The company also says it discovered a huge tree at its main inlet valve for machine 4 which has been removed.
“As at 00:15hrs, all machines at both stations were back online and normalisation was complete. We thank our entire stakeholder and the public for your understanding and patience during this period,” the statement reads.
Egenco Senior Public Relations Officer Moses Gwaza in an interview yesterday said the maintenance at Nkula B was part of preparations for the rainy season.
“As you might be aware, once you have the intake screen dislodged, it means that anything can go into the machines.
“So, to prevent that, we had to take out the power plant so that we have all the screens intact so that when we start cleaning the trash that normally comes with the rains, the machines are protected,” he said.
Ironically, most parts of Mzuzu City had no power at the time of this story, which Gwaza said could be a local transmission problem.
Commenting on the issue on Egenco’s Facebook page John Mlenga from Zolozolo Township said it is good that the company has moved in to rectify the problem though his township had no lights yet.
“Good work Egenco even though we are in blackout in Mzuzu Zolozolo Botanic,” he said.
Nkula A and B stations, which have a combined generation capacity of 135.1 megawatts, were shut down on January 13 to allow for maintenance works at Nkula B.
