Escom drains Blantyre Water Board resources, pays K420mil monthly power bills

Water utility, Blantyre Water Board has bitterly complained that it pays half of its annual revenue to Escom power.

Blantyre Water Board acting general manager Henry Bakuwa told the Natural Resources and Climate Change committee of parliament in Lilongwe that the board collects K800 million in revenue every month so customers payment of water bills out of which the board pays K420 million for electricity.

“The high is too high for us to provide excellent service to our customers. We cannot be giving Escom half of what we collect every month, this hampers our service delivery to residents,” he said.

He said Escom provides electricity to Blantyre Water Board from Nkula A which is used to pump water to residents homes.

Chairman of the committee Welani Chilenga described the development as development.

He said the government needs to move in swiftly to correct the situation.

Meanwhile, BWB public relations officer Priscilla Mateyu said vandals have hit the company hard.

Mateyu said people are vandalising water pipes and metres affecting the company about K40 million a month.

She appealed to people to desist from vandalism.