The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) and Mulanje Police Station held a four-day campaign from 8 to 11 October against the vandalism of electricity infrastructure in Mulanje District. Mobile teams toured markets and trading centres on Thursday and Friday, urging people to protect power assets and report suspicious activity quickly. On Saturday, 60 members […]
$50m Bwengu project could ease blackouts, but developer warns of delays in paperwork Quantel Renewable Energy Limited and the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) have signed a Transmission Connection Agreement for a 50-megawatt solar plant at Bwengu in Mzimba District. The $50 million project would add 50MW to the national grid and is expected […]
The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has confirmed a nationwide power outage, which began at 10:45pm on Wednesday, September 9, 2026. The blackout was confirmed in a statement more than two hours after it started. Escom said the outage followed a system shutdown, though the cause has not yet been established. The power utility […]
The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) says its nationwide project to migrate postpaid electricity customers to prepaid metering has reached more than 99 percent. ESCOM Public Relations Officer Pilirani Phiri said the Meter Migration Project had made significant progress, with completion rates nearing 100 percent in all regions. He said: “The Meter Migration Project […]
Malawi’s Minister of Energy has said she expects power blackouts to ease by December, as critical machine spares are due to arrive in the country this week and imported electricity from Mozambique is expected to begin flowing. Speaking in an interview monitored by Nyasa Times on Nation Online’s No Excuses programme on Friday, Jean Mathanga […]
There is a peculiar arithmetic at work in Malawi’s energy sector, and it goes something like this: take three state-owned companies that must, by the nature of their business, negotiate with one another – settling debts, striking power purchase agreements, haggling over tariffs – and then place a single individual at the head of all […]
Traditional leaders in Kasungu have called for community-led security patrols to protect electricity infrastructure, following a wave of transformer vandalism that has left several local communities without power in recent weeks. Four transformers have been vandalised in the district within weeks, according to the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM), prompting the utility to launch […]
Former Energy Minister Atupele Muluzi has launched a furious counterattack after being accused of promising former ESCOM security guards K1 million each in exchange for withdrawing a court case, branding the allegations “completely false, fabricated and without any factual basis.” Muluzi hit back after a media outlet published a story linking him to the alleged […]
Malawians have been warned to brace themselves for further power outages after a fresh 42-megawatt (MW) generation shortfall hit the national grid – a deficit that balloons to a crippling 83MW during evening peak hours. The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) revealed in a statement that available generation capacity currently stands at just 347MW, […]
Malawi is entering yet another dark chapter in its electricity crisis. The much-touted Mozambique-Malawi Interconnection Project, meant to inject urgently needed power into the national grid, has missed its third commissioning deadline. The latest promise — that the connection would be operational by the end of July — has passed without a single megawatt flowing […]
Malawi’s electricity sector illustrates a familiar pattern in developing economies: connections outpacing capacity. As access-expansion programmes such as the Malawi Electricity Access Project and the Malawi Rural Electrification Programme bring more households and businesses onto the grid, generation has failed to keep pace, producing chronic shortfalls and increasingly disruptive load-shedding. The numbers illustrate the scale […]
Consumer groups accuse state utilities of “financial gymnastics” after disputed debt was written off following government intervention. A protracted dispute between Malawi’s two state-owned electricity utilities has drawn public criticism after a K65.9 billion billing discrepancy was resolved through a combination of debt write-offs, tariff adjustments and a government bailout — leaving consumers to absorb […]
An energy expert has issued a scathing warning over Malawi’s crumbling power infrastructure, demanding that state-run distributor Escom urgently overhaul its maintenance and monitoring systems to put an end to the country’s persistent power blackouts. Grain Malunga didn’t mince his words, branding the ongoing system shutdowns that continue to plunge the country into darkness as […]
The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has confirmed that power has been restored to most parts of the country following the mysterious nationwide system shutdown that plunged Malawi into darkness at 7:11am on Sunday. The utility revealed that restoration efforts kicked into gear almost immediately after the outage struck, with supply gradually returning region […]
The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) has confirmed a nationwide system shutdown that struck at 7:11am today, plunging homes, businesses and institutions across the country into darkness with no immediate explanation for the sudden power loss. In an urgent notice issued this morning, the power utility revealed that technical teams have been rapidly deployed […]
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) has raised expectations for a more stable power supply following the commissioning of a 20MW/40MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), a project the utility hopes will begin addressing the country’s chronic electricity shortfalls. ESCOM spokesperson Pilirani Phiri said the system would work by capturing surplus power during periods of […]
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 […]
Malawi’s state electricity utility has announced that it is replacing ageing wooden poles with prestressed concrete alternatives along two key transmission lines, citing improved durability and lower maintenance costs. The initiative is welcome. It is also, by itself, wholly insufficient. The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) says its Prestressed Concrete Poles Project will cover […]