Malawi braces for continued electicity woes – ESCOM
Malawi will experience more power outages due to low energy supplies and maintenance work being carried out at Nkula power plantation A and B located on Shire River which has been affected after torrential rains knocked down 10 pylons, sole electricity provider Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) has said.
Since the onset of the rains, large amounts of debris and trash have been washed down the Shire River, clogging intake screens in the process, according to ESCOM CEO John Kandulu
Kandulu said they were not generating any power from Nkula A and B, because machines and the entry point are all clogged with silt, trash and logs, so no water is entering the machine.
“We have lost 124 megawatts [about 35 percent] due to the floods,” said Kandulu. “It is a huge loss of business for us.”
He said the country will continue to experience power blackouts until problem with the machines is fully addressed.
“The power supply situatio is expected to remain subdued. I am not sure as to when we are going to get over the problem but let us hope it will be sooner, ESCOM is currently losing K4.1million due to extraction of the machines,” said Kandulu.
The loss of power means small- and medium-scale businesses have to use generators.
Economist Edward Chilima warned that this would have a huge economic impact.
“In the short term, this will have a huge impact on the economy, as it is already slowing down most productive economic sectors, as they are not performing to capacity,” he said.
Bola nthawi ya amai anthu amamenya cashgate magetsi osazima koma izi ntchito zawo zawaikira umboni alephera.
Every year we hear of debris and its over 10yrs and nothin is being done! It seems you don’t have a plan to, you are only good at sponsoring ruling parties and donating hhuge amounts of money to charity organisations of the ruling president. Its time ESCOM should have competitors.
A ESCOM ndi agalu, iwowo disaster preparedness plan yawo ili kuti?
all u know is 2 collect bills instead of solving problem on ur machine first.look now we r suffering from powet suply & every busines is going down bt u hav taken it as silly thing,u r saying everyone must pay bills,wat kind of stealing is this? am so tired of u.
This company continues to amaze me. During previous regime we could hardly have blackouts of this nature. Should we say we had no rains? .Lame excuses always
Koma ndiye tikadazunzika, sha
Shortsighted escom koma kukwela ma hammer za zii
Well done escom mwina akufuna mtsogolomu magetsi asazazimeso nde mukatha kuchosa zinyalalazo mukapheso anyani akuzimisa magewo mukatero sipazakhaso blackouts
If we are to dull on the engineering side, is there no economist who can calculate on a senario what it cost: local economy vs. Mosambic connection
These are the stories of escom everytime they bring new problem sono chabwitsa ndi chakuti nthawi ya JB zimenezi kunalibe ndiye kaya panopa mukuyendetsa bwanji bomali?