…As Musokotwane urges change of attitude to tariff hike
The Energy Regulation Board (ERB) expects to decide on ZESCO Limited’s new application for an emergency tariff revision next week, board chairman James Banda has said.
Responding to a question during today’s national energy update, Banda confirmed that the regulator had received ZESCO’s new application, whose details it will publish no later than tomorrow.
In August, the ERB wholly rejected ZESCO’s application for an emergency tariff revision because it would result in some unintended consequences.
Yesterday, ZESCO announced that it had re-applied, and similar to its earlier application, is seeking to reduce tariffs for small consumers and increase for large users of more than 500 units per month. The rationale is that consumers in that category can afford alternative power sources.
Banda said today that after the details of what had been applied for are published, the ERB will arrange public hearing meetings, with one possibly on the Copperbelt.
During his 2025 budget presentation to the National Assembly on Friday last week, Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said that everyone shared the blame for Zambia’s power inadequacy.
“For years and decades, experts have been telling us, warning us against overdependence on hydropower and the need to diversify our energy mix but those other sources are a bit more expensive, they cost more money. As consumers, we have been refusing to pay more,” he stated.
He implored that it was time Zambians allowed ZESCO to charge more for the power they supply because sustaining stable generation and supply involves developing non-hydropower sources which are more expensive.
Experts have long argued that electricity tariffs in Zambia have remained low and suppressed for decades, a factor that has largely contributed to stunted investments in the sector and stagnated its growth. Consumers, on the other hand, contend that they already pay high enough for their power and that it’s insensitive to hike prices during a crisis when many of them are forced to go without power for days.
The average consumer tariff in Zambia is about 4 cents per unit (kilowatt-hour), which at today’s Bank of Zambia mid-rate is about K1.05 per unit. A consumer using 100 units per month at this rate would pay K105.
