Local firms urged to join search for energy solutions – Mabenga

Local firms urged to join search for energy solutions

 By Mast Reporter

Mulobezi Member of Parliament Raphael Mabenga says more Zambian companies must come on board to help end the country’s electricity problem.

Speaking in an interview during the visit of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy, Water Development and Tourism to the Copperbelt Energy Corporation Plc (CEC), Mabenga urged Zambians to work with government to find solutions in the energy sector.

“It’s good to see that Zambians are able to contribute to the development of this country. We are very impressed with what we have seen at CEC. It’s encouraging that CEC has ventured into power generation instead of just relying on Zesco,” he said.

“It’s also positive that they are expanding to 500 megawatts. The private sector must come on board and work with the government of the day so that we can provide the needed development to Zambians because everything depends on electricity, and without electricity, development becomes a challenge.”

Mabenga urged the private sector to work with government to come up with ways of making the energy sector more attractive.

CEC chief commercial officer Titus Mwandemena appealed to authorities to ensure that electricity tariffs were more lucrative to make the sector attractive.

Mwandemena noted that CEC had been affected by the drought as Zesco Limited  from which the company bought more than 80 per cent of its power, had cut its allocation.

“Because of the drought, Zesco has curtailed 40 per cent of the supply. What we are supposed to get from Zesco is around 380 megawatts, but what we are getting is 200, and it’s not sufficient. We’re importing from the region to supply the local mines,” he said.

CEC’s head of government and investor relations Silvester Hibajene said there was a need for cost-reflective tariffs.

Hibajene told the committee that before CEC arrived at the tariff to charge its customers, it wrote the sector’s regulator, the Energy Regulation Board (ERB), which designs the tariff and factors in issues of affordability for the different sectors of the economy.

“Properly priced electricity is better than no electricity at all,” he told the committee.