Load shedding to continue—Escom

By Isaac Salima:

Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has announced that consumers will continue experiencing power blackouts as the power supply situation has not improved due to maintenance works at Kapichira Power Station.

Last week, Escom and Electricity Generating Company (Egenco) officials were quoted as saying that the power situation had stabilised.

Escom Public Relations Manager Kitty Chingota said the situation has just returned to pre-Cyclone Freddy times.

“Load shedding continues as the available capacity is still below demand.

“However, worth noting is that we have reduced load shedding on industrial customers only,” Chingota said.

Before the cyclone hit, Escom had been rationing power for up to eight hours in a day.

Cyclone-induced rains exacerbated power problems that the country had been experiencing since last year after the cofferdam was damaged at Kapichira plant.

Egenco Chief Executive last week that the company was generating an average of 254 megawatts of electricity from all hydro power stations. Officer William Liabunya said

Egenco, through a statement released on Wednesday, said it had been facing difficulties to generate power at its Nkula A and Tedzani III machines because of excess trash, debris, silt and rocks, which accumulated on water intakes because of the cyclone disaster; a challenge which the company has now sorted.

In February, Egenco spokesperson Moses Gwaza indicated that rehabilitation works at Kapichira would be completed by the end of that month.