Malawi power companies write govt over extended blackouts
Lilongwe experienced an early electricity black out on Monday just two days after Escom and Egenco, state power companies, wrote the ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, Water and Irrigation to increase the flow of water at Liwonde Barrage.
In a letter seen by Nyasa Times, Escom and Egenco want the ministry to increase the flow of water controlled at Liwonde Barrage by 20 percent to meet the demand of hydro power.
The country needs at least 350 megawatts of electricity at its peak demand but Egenco currently generates 200 megawatts.
The letter says the control of water at Liwonde was arrived at to avert flooding in Lower Shire districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje.
The ministry is yet to respond to the demand by Egenco and Escom but a water engineer working in government has laughed off the matter that the control of the water at Liwonde was to avert floods in Lower Shire.
He said floods in Lower Shire is as a result of heavy down pour in Blantyre and Thyolo, saying Liwonde was a long distance to have its water have a direct flooding in Nsanje and Chikhwawa.
The persistent power black out, which goes more than eight hours to 12 hours a day, comes at a time when the government has hired generators to increase power on the grid.
Egenco publicist Moses Gwaza told a radio station on Sunday the situation would change after all the gensets are installed in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
He dismissed allegations that Egenco is failing to buy fuel for the gensets hence the current spate of power blackouts.
Electricity tariffs were raised from K58 per hour to K73 per hour to cater for the budget of the fuel.
Rise up honourable Malawians!
Electricity should be a fundamental right!
Who is buying these stories from Escom?
Now it’s just a game of ‘pass the ball’ from Escom to Egenco.. to the Ministry.. back to Escom.. and so on.
No one ever wants to give a clear answer and take responsibility!
We failed to plan for our long-term power needs and will have a tough few years before we can get significant sustainable power generation.
Escom and Egenco are inefficient and badly managed. They need to stop being used as ‘cash cows’.
Full stop!!
To useless guys like santana the complaint is handwork of MCP! All he always want is people should be saying things are ok though everything has gone up side down……………………………………..! DPP oyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, gen sets oyeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, a pita oyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, santana oyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, bamusi oyeeeeeeeeeee Goodall nso oyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Mwayitha akuluakulu uuuuuuuuuuuuuu mukamamva kuganiza mozama ndiye kumenekooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
Malawians, be afraid. Be very afraid. These DPP guys will never solve this problem. Peter won’t do anything. His Professorship was all about staying too long at one University so they just decided to promote him. But he is a dunderhead. A scatter brain of a President who is busy planting his tribesmen in key positions in Government so that azawasiye pabwino.
On what basis do you base your alarmist language? this APM is the man who has got the economy going without AID to the point where his efficiency is such that AID is being offered again to the country! By the way, the electricity issue is a result of years and years of neglect!Peter has only been in power what 2 years? and already you can see he is trying to sort it with the restricted economy he has to operate within! When they increase electricity tariffs you complain! You are either very ignorant or you have an allergy to… Read more »
Iweso ndiwe mbuzi yamunthu… who has rejected increased tarrifs? They have just adjusted the rates & how much do u want them to increase… the problem here is lying.. first it was splitting escom to improve performance .. bt nothing has changed. We blamed water level but rain came nothing is changing.. we brought genset nothing is changing.. so what do u expect from pple. As a country we need to change the way we do thing.. be honest not lying.. Instead of us changing things.. things are changing us.. Open ur eyes
I suppose the gen sets are operating on electricity as well and not diesel therefore, no electricity no amplified electricalpower from generators, you know what I mean
I said it blackouts are here to stay unless we re-afforest our lost trees in our all catchment area and invest in alternative sustainable energy sources. Generators are not sustainable. End users can not manage to cover the cost of operational / maintenance cost of these fuel guzzlers.
Excuses will never end
God is not without a sense of humour. This is one way God is exposing crooked political leaders and technocrats to their persistent lies. It is clear that their lies are catching up with them, in day broad day light. If we run the tape back, it will be abundantly clear that lack of rain was used as an excuse with solution lying in the acquisition of gensets. Blackouts were to be contained from January, we were told on radio, TV and at various rallies (we have recordings to prove). Now the gensets are here and so is the rain… Read more »
This is how you clearly see that their writing is on the wall. For how long will these lies hold? Unfortunately these so called technocrats and political leaders mistake our silence for a weakness and ignorance. What a shame. Truth be said this was a failed project right from the word go. Leadership and corrupt minds do not always go along. The effects of a loud mouth are catching along and there is no any scapegoat now.
Uchitsiru wa anthu ochepa ukupangitsa tonse kukhala opusa.