EGENCO dismisses Yeremia Chihana on cause of electricity tariff adjustment

The Electricity Generation Company Malawi Limited (EGENCO) has dismissed assertions Mzimba North member of Parliament, Yeremia Chihana, made recently that the establishment of the company propelled the rise in electricity price.

During an exclusive interview with Times Television last week, Chihana blamed the adjustment of electricity tariffs on EGENCO.

He said when Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) was the sole generator and supplier of power, Malawians used to buy units between K15 and MK20 per kilowatt per hour.

“But now with the coming in of EGENCO, we are buying electricity at between to K35 and K45 per kilowatt,” said Chihana.

The allegation has not gone down well with EGENCO, which argues the coming in of the company is not the factor that necessitated the push for an upward price adjustment of electricity.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, EGENCO faults Chihana for failing to acknowledge that the coming in of EGENCO is one of the major reasons why the country has stable and improved power generating capacity and consequently no load shedding in the country.

“There are numerous tangible examples of what EGENCO has done to bring improvements in the electricity sector in the country. The coming in of EGENCO has created a scenario where the company’s sore mandate is to generate electricity. This has resulted in the company being focused on power generation, where it has carried out rehabilitation, modernization and in some cases uprating the old machines that we have, giving them new life and improving efficiency and adding generation capacity,” reads the statement in part.

The statement further says the company is continually adding megawatts to the national grid as evidenced by the recently launched Tedzani IV (19.1MW), uprating of Nkula A machines (12MW), Uprating of Tedzani III (10MW), installation of Diesel Power Plants (36MW) in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.

EGENCO brags that it has also carried out dredging activities on the hydro power stations, reclaiming the pond capacity for holding more water for the efficient power generation especially during peak demand periods.

“All these efforts together with our colleagues in ESCOM and Ministry of Energy have resulted in the stable power generation and supply that the country is experiencing. At the two islands of Likoma and Chizumulu, after 19 years of unreliable and inadequate power generation and Supply, EGENCO has managed to install solar power with capacity of 1.3MW which is way too high to the demand at the islands, thereby providing clean and reliable power to the islanders enabling them enjoy electricity 24 hours every day,” says the company.

It goes on to challenge that even without EGENCO existing, the price of electricity was bound to change overtime, as electricity tariff had, for a long time, been non cost-reflective.

“We would like therefore to appeal to the public to regard the remarks made by Honourable Chihana as mere speculation, untrue and therefore misleading. We further appeal to the public that our doors are open, we are always willing to provide any information or clarification on any issue that the public may wish to know,” emphasizes EGENCO.

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