The World Bank has commended the country for doubling new electricity connections from 35,000 households to 75,000 within a year.
State-run Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) is implementing an on-grid component of the World Bank’s Malawi Electricity Access Project (Meap), which registered 74,800 new connections as of March 31, 2024. The Ministry of Energy is implementing the off-grid component.
Speaking during a meeting between the World Bank Group and Malawi delegation at the IMF/World Bank Group 2024 Spring Meeting, the bank’s Practice Manager [Energy Eastern and Southern Africa] Yadviga Semikolenova said the bank is impressed with the progress made in providing clean energy access in Malawi.
“Before 2023, the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi was able to connect only 35,000 people a year to the national grid which was not fast enough. This was the best the utility provider could do but given how fast the population has grown it didn’t give a dent.
“World Bank Group worked very closely with the Malawi Government and the utility company to make sure it has the capacity and all equipment necessary for scaling up. We are impressed that in 2023 alone, connections to the grid grew from 35,000 to over 75,000 which is no mean achievement,” Semikolenova said.
Semikolenova said the government also understands that with the increasing population, off-grid energy can be generated with current technology by harnessing solar energy with almost the same quality as the grid energy.
Minister of Finance Simplex Chithyola-Banda said before the World Bank Group intervened in the energy sector, ESCOM faced capacity challenges and the government asked the Bank to assist with contract management skills which were lacking.
Escom Limited Chief Operations Officer Maxwell Mulimakwenda said the power utility company feels energised by the praise from the World Bank.
First phase of the Meap project targets households located within a 500-metre radius of existing distribution transformers with the ultimate objective of connecting 180,000 households upon its completion.
Meap was launched in December 2022 but rolled out officially in February 2023.