Minister of Energy,Dr Jean Mathanga, says Government will work closely with the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) to improve the reliability of electricity supply to households, businesses and public institutions.
Dr Mathanga made the remarks on Wednesday during a visit to ESCOM’s Chichiri Power Station in Blantyre, where she followed up on resolutions from an earlier meeting with the Corporation and assessed progress towards improving electricity services.
During the visit, the Minister toured the National Control Centre and the National Contact Centre, where she also took calls from customers. She said the experience provided her with a better understanding of how consumers report electricity-related problems and how ESCOM responds to their concerns.
Addressing challenges affecting the mobility of fault response teams, Dr Mathanga acknowledged that ESCOM has a limited fleet of vehicles but disclosed that the Corporation would introduce an alternative transport system in November to help its teams respond to faults and provide other services.
“We know ESCOM has a limited fleet to respond to faults. But I am glad to report that in November we will be launching an innovative transport mode for our teams, which they will use to respond to faults and offer other services,” she said.
The Minister emphasised that reliable electricity supply is essential for Malawi’s economic growth and industrialisation ambitions under the Malawi 2063 national development agenda.
She acknowledged that electricity generation remains below national demand, saying the immediate priority is to ensure the available power is distributed fairly across the country while Government works towards finalising trading terms agreements under the Mozambique-Malawi interconnection arrangements (MOMA), which she said would help ease the pressure caused by inadequate supply.
Dr Mathanga also highlighted the forthcoming launch of a net-metering framework, which will allow customers generating their own electricity to feed surplus power into the national grid.
She said the initiative would provide an opportunity to increase electricity available on the grid without relying solely on the construction of new power generation plants.
According to the Minister, a pilot programme has identified 34 self-generators expected to contribute approximately three megawatts (MW) of electricity to the national grid by next month.
Dr Mathanga has since challenged ESCOM to identify more self-generators and accelerate their connection to the grid, even before the official launch of the framework.
“I encourage ESCOM to find more self-generators and to connect them quickly because if we can get 3MW from just 34 customers, how many megawatts can we bring into the grid if we connect more self-generators?” she said.
She added that ESCOM should expedite the connections ahead of the framework’s planned launch next month to help increase available electricity.
The initiative is expected to complement other efforts aimed at addressing Malawi’s electricity supply deficit and improving access to reliable power for consumers.
