Malawi power house to split: Minister assures Escom workers ‘no job cuts’

Minister of Energy Bright Msaka has moved in swiftly to assure thousands of workers at the state power utility company, Escom that no one will lose a job following the imminent restructuring programme.

Msaka said the restructuring of the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) includes the splitting of the sole power utility into two, an electricity generation company and a power distribution company.

“We want to split it because other players in the power sector are coming in. Some companies are coming so that they could be buying the electricity and selling it to the people therefore we cannot have one company as is the case now which generates power and sells it because this will give unfair competition to the other companies,” he said.

He therefore said Kapichira and Tedzani hydro power houses and others that generate electricity will form one company whose name government will decide later and Escom will continue distributing and selling electricity which it will be buying from the new power generating firm.

Msaka said the restructuring process might start as early as May.

He therefore said every employee will be placed according to his or her skill.

Escom has been blamed for very poor services including rampant blackouts and the coming in of other distributing companies, experts say, will create competition and improve service delivery.