Bear with Escom on blackouts – Malawi President

President Peter Mutharika on Monday spoke openly, for the first time, about the continued  electricity blackouts, and urged the nation to be patient.

Malawi have, for the past six months, been experiencing massive electricity blackouts which Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) attributed to low water levels in Lake Malawi and low flows in the Shire river.

The country’s generation capacity now stands at 211.04 megawatts against a demand of 278 megawatts.

On Monday, Mutharika speaking to journalists at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe, said he was aware of the situation and defended Escom’s efforts to improve the situation.

”I am aware of electricity problems, its strategic problem. Escom is working out the issue. The problem is water levels,” said Mutharika.

Mutharika said was hopeful the situation would improve especially with coming in of Chinese funded Kamwamba coal-fired power station which is to add about 300-megawatt (MW).

”The minister of energy and Escom are doing their best to rectify the problem. I ask everybody to bear with us as we doing our best”.

Malawians are currently facing long hours without electricity as Escom revealed that generation capacity at its Nkula and Tedzani Hydro power stations has gone down by 50 percent.

Escom has been attributing the persistent blackouts to low water levels in Lake Malawi and Shire River.

However, in August the institution took a contradictory step and admitted to the nation that the current blackouts are a result of faulty power generating machines.