Escom moves to improve supply

By Llywellenie Mpasa:

The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has, again, conceded that it is overwhelmed with damages on electricity power lines and other infrastructure caused by heavy rains the country has been receiving in recent weeks.

The State-run power supplier is also failing to clear faults because of continued power outages.

The utility body is overwhelmed by incessant outages, persistent system failures, inability to meet demand and the lack of capacity to fix faults.

Some townships go for days without electricity after transmission apparatus gets damaged by strong winds and other harsh weather phenomena.

But addressing journalists on Saturday, Escom Public Relations Manager Kitty Chingota said the firm has since embarked on a countrywide faults-clearing exercise.

She said amid the challenges, the corporation is still committed to ensuring that all customers have uninterrupted power supply.

“We are mobilising our human resources from the districts that are less affected to reinforce areas that are most hit so that we speed up the clearance rate,” she said.

Chingota said Escom will, from the next financial year, introduce new zones in Lunzu, Chileka, Limbe and Mpemba in Blantyre City to minimise challenges its staff face when responding to calls for rectifying faults.

She then advised the public to always report all electricity faults and defects of power structures to Escom fault centres.

Overall, Energy Generation Company has a total installed generation capacity of 441.95mw, with 390.55mw from hydropower plants and 51.4mw from standby diesel-powered plants.

At least 70mw comes from independent power producers.