ESCO Limited has today begun implementing a new power rationing schedule, allocating five hours of electricity daily to its residential customers.
Following the approval of the power utility’s emergency tariff adjustment application by the Energy Regulation Board on October 10, ZESCO is expected to increase the volume of imported power to meet the yawning gap created by its dried-up power generation reservoirs.
“ZESCO requires revenue of about US$15 million monthly to partially cover the purchase cost of 788MW,” read a company statement issued today.
ZESCO’s import bill for the 788MW is US$94 million.
While the regulator’s approval was premised on ZESCO supplying domestics with seven hours of power daily, the company’s statement is mute on if and when that would be done. A rationing schedule released later shows five hours of supply instead, effective today.
“With the additional funds, ZESCO will source power (peak time) that is expected to significantly impact power supply availability.”
The other week, the company announced that it could only access off-peak power from the regional import market, and, in the absence of 150MW from Maamba, which went under emergency maintenance, it could only guarantee its domestic users power at off-peak periods—usually very late at night or in the wee hours.
Consequent to the adjusted tariffs kicking in, more than half a million residential customers will see their power costs slashed by up to 20%. The increment is loaded on heavy users of above 500 units monthly.
If ZESCO sticks to its schedules and it works, the increase in daily power availability will offer much-needed relief to many Zambians.
