Govt pushes power investment as ESCOM urges Malawians to help end loadshedding

Government and the national power utility have both moved this week to address Malawi’s persistent electricity outages, with ministers pointing to new generation projects while ESCOM appeals to consumers to cut demand during peak hours.

Minister of Energy Dr Jean Mathanga told Parliament on Tuesday that government fully appreciates the inconvenience and economic losses caused by intermittent power supply, responding to a matter of urgent public importance raised by Salima Central West MP Enock Genasi Phale over frequent blackouts.

Mathanga said government is intensifying investment in generation, rehabilitating ageing infrastructure and strengthening transmission networks, after years of underinvestment left capacity lagging behind demand.

She pointed to a series of short-term interventions already under way, including the 20-megawatt Kanengo Battery Energy Storage System, and confirmed that the 10-megawatt Nanjoka Solar Power Plant in Salima will be commissioned on 6 August, followed by the Malawi-Mozambique Interconnector in the second week of August.

Longer term, the minister said government is progressing the 358-megawatt Mpatamanga Hydropower Project, along with the Eastern Backbone Transmission Line through Salima, Nkhotakota and Nkhata Bay, and a Western Backbone connecting Malawi to Zambia.

She said tariff reforms, advanced metering infrastructure and operational restructuring at ESCOM and EGENCO were also under way to improve financial sustainability, alongside a new inter-agency committee to tackle vandalism of power infrastructure.

The government’s investment drive was echoed by ESCOM itself, which said in a statement that its teams are working daily to reinforce the grid and stabilise supply, with early results beginning to show.

But the utility stressed that ending loadshedding will also depend on consumers, urging households and businesses to back its “Power Saved is Power Shared” campaign by reducing electricity use between 4:00am and 6:00am, and 4:30pm and 8:30pm.

“Every unit of electricity you save doesn’t disappear; it goes to power another home, another business and another life in a nearby hospital,” ESCOM said, calling on “every home, every business and every institution to stand with ESCOM as partners in keeping Malawi’s lights on.”