Zambia state owned power utility company ZESCO, has responded to reports circulating in some parts of the media as well as queries from the general public suggesting that ZESCO is exporting power to Malawi at the expense of Zambian citizens.
Zambia has been plunged in major power cuts since March 2019 with some parts in the South African landlocked country experiencing up to 16 hours of load shedding.
According to the state owned power utility, inter-state power trading is a common practice among electricity companies worldwide.
Patrick Mwila, director – Strategy and Corporate Services at ZESCO, said the company wishes to confirm that it imports and exports power to some countries in the region especially where ZESCO has existing long term power supply agreements (PSAs) or power purchase agreements (PPA). “This is especially true in border town areas whereby by mutual agreement, one country supplies a neighboring border town for efficiency purposes,” Mwila said in a statement.
He said in view of the above, it is important to note that ZESCO undertakes import and export trades with the following countries: Malawi, DRC, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Mwila noted that Zambia through its state owned enterprise (SOE), ZESCO, is part of the regional power pool known as the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), an association of electricity companies in Southern Africa that has created an interconnected power grid and a common market for electricity trading in the SADC region. “ZESCO has long term trading arrangements through various Power PSAs or PPAs.
“It is therefore, common to find that one exports power to a neighbour at one particular point where you have better infrastructure and yet you import power at another location where you are disadvantaged due to various factors (terrain, infrastructure availability, distance from grid, proximity to cross border facility of neighboring country,” he added. “These contracts tend to be long term and can play an important part in ongoing reciprocal diplomatic relations between the peoples of the countries concerned.
“We would like to further, inform the public that, ZESCO is currently in negotiations with South Africa and Mozambique to facilitate importation of at least 300 megawatts of power to cushion the power deficit that the country is experiencing.”