Malawi electricity tariffs to go up by 24.67% with diesel-powered generators
Malawians will start dipping deeper in their pockets to pay for electricity as Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) has approved a tariff hike of 24.57% but has instructed the state-owned Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) to effect the raise when they starts using the generators.
Mera chief executive officer, Collins Magalasi, disclosed that the energy regulator approved the tariff hike but have written Escom to put on hold the new tarrifs because “people have not started enjoying the benefits of the improved service.”
Magalasi said Escom can implement the new tarrifs when it starts supplying power from the diesel-powered generators expected to be expensive to run.
Escom will raise the tarrifs from the current K53.80 (about $0.09) per kilowatt-hour to K73.23.
In Malawi, electricity tariffs are expected to be reviewed every four years and since 2008, there have been two electricity tariff reviews, the first being from 2009 to 2013 and the second from 2014 to 2017.
The tarrifc increase comes at a time when Escom has been rationing power due to reduced generation capacity from the potential demand of 351MW to current levels because of low water levels in Lake Malawi and its sole outlet the Shire River where over 90 percent of hydro power is generated.
The impoverished southern African country which relies on hydroelectricity has been hit by intermitted blackouts since last year, but the outages have recently worsened, lasting up to 25 hours. but Escom has said there has been increase in power generation from 147 megawatts (MW) to 200MW and load shedding hours will be reduced.
Escom acting public relations manager George Mituka said that on their part, they rely on the amount generated by their sister company, Electricity Generation Company (Egenco).
A number of businesses and hospitals in the country had been forced to use diesel-powered generators to keep the lights on.
According to the World Bank, only 8% of Malawi’s 17 million people have access to electricity.
Malawi wanu uyu mukuti akuyenda bwino boma la DPP likuchita bwino ndilomweli. people should expect more increase in prices. Koma osaukafe makala tikulandidwanso, pali nzeru???????? But no altenatives for the poor.
In case there still are some stupid and naive optimists who still believe that the purpose of the fraudulently procured ESCOM gensets is to generate eleelectricity in Malawi. Noooh! Please hold such futile beliefs at you own peril. Fool yourself with maloto a chumba! This is December end, has anything changed as promised? Noooh!! These gensets are simply DPP cash-cows. DPP freud gangsters fraudulently procured gensets not to generate electricity for Malawians but to generate funds for DDP thugs kuti azigulira andale osakonda Malawi. Funds have been budgeted to buy more opportunistic and greedy politicians at the expense of Malawians… Read more »
I for one clearly remember that some one asked if the gensets will not the tariffs go up and the Government promised that they have already taken care of this problem such that there will be NO increased tariffs. This clearly shows the snake’ s double tongue of our Government.
Consumer has no choice.. nanga nkutani abale..ziko lokomera achuma ndi a ndale..
Please raise the tarrifs as long as your power supply to customers become reliable with the gensets. Amene mukutsutsa munazolowera kufuna kuti Malawi ipitilire kukhala welfare state-zankutu. ours is a market based economy not socialist. Goodal Gondwe please remove every subsidy including Fertilizer, free Medicare and giving porridge to kids in school. why should government feed and school my kids? its my responsibility and not the State
this is day light robbery. what a shame, we all knew this was coming. what can you expect from a corrupt government.
Obviously, the revenue levels for ESCOM are thinning out as a result of these blackouts. The sales are dwindling. Do you now punish the consumer by raising the tariff – yet the consumer can only access power a few hours in a day. Why should consumers pay for inefficiency? This is brutal!
The industry has been heavily affected by the intermittent supply of power. This has greatly affected the economy. Poverty remains a scar. Disparities pose the problem in the redistribution of wealth. Average income is low. Working class people now live under poverty. They have to dig deeper in their pockets in order to survive. Corruption will worsen as people try to find additional funds so as make ends meet. With an increase in the tariffs, government should just subsidize power supply from diesel generators so that consumers are cushioned from the effect of the raised tariffs. MACRA has excess funds… Read more »
professor bwampini!!!!!!!
nonsense !! we’ve suffered too much, our businesses have closed down and you come up with this shit b4 we recover? rubbish!!!