By Brenda Kayo:
The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has disclosed that companies and government institutions owe it K47 billion.
Escom spokesperson Peter Kanjere told The Daily Times that government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) owe Escom about K42 billion, with the private sector owing the utility firm about K5 billion.
We have, therefore, embarked on a nationwide disconnection exercise. Most of MDAs which owe Escom money were funded by the Treasury but they decided to use the funds for other things instead of settling our bills, believing that, since they are government agencies, Escom cannot disconnect power [from them],” he said.
Kanjere said failure to settle outstanding bills has adversely affected the corporation’s cash flow since it needs to pay value-added tax to the Malawi Revenue Authority.
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He said Escom has migrated all MDAs and private sectors from post-paid to pre-paid meters to settle outstanding bills but added that most MDAs have not yet activated their meters.
“The MDAs were given a deadline of 31st March 2023 to migrate from post-paid to pre-paid meters. We have installed all the pre-paid meters in all the MDAs and we are just waiting for permission from the MDAs to activate these meters,” he added.
He further said Escom has moved the deadline to December 31.
