* Through urgent operational improvements and sustained infrastructure investment
* We acknowledge the significant impact current power outages are having on households, businesses and the national economy
* We recognise that the current situation is critical and we are addressing these challenges with the urgency that they deserve
By Duncan Mlanjira
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) acknowledges that the significant and frequent power outages being faced across the country, are having an impact on households, businesses and the national economy.
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The power utility service provider thus assures the public that it is “dedicated to reducing both the frequency and duration of outages through urgent operational improvements and sustained infrastructure investment”.
“We recognise that the current situation is critical and we are addressing these challenges with the urgency that they deserve,” says ESCOM in a press statement released this afternoon.
It indicates that the current outages are driven by two primary factors of system instability in that the demand is currently exceeding available generation, leading to frequent loadshedding for its customers.
It also acknowledges that fault response and restoration times have been unacceptably slow; and the immediate remedies & action plan includes immediate implementation of sustained interventions to address both the frequency and duration of outages.
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To improve system stability, ESCOM has executed daily management systems, saying: “In collaboration with Energy Generation Company (EGENCO), we are performing daily balancing of supply and demand and optimising all available generation.”
On immediate resilience, “a structured eight-month rollout of Embedded Power & Battery Storage is underway to strengthen the grid” and to improve fault response, ESCOM has “immediately launched a nationwide fault clearance campaign as well as mobilising additional teams to clear backlogs”.
As direct oversight, the company’s “managers have been deployed directly to fault centers to improve dispatch and coordination”.
On the timelines set for improvement, ESCOM assures that it is committed to a transparent schedule for service restoration — that includes visible improvement in fault response time (within 30 days); stabilisation of response times (within 60 days); and reduction in load shedding (within 8 months).
“This is a system-wide intervention with immediate effect. We thank our customers for their patience as we work to stabilise the national grid,” says the statement from management.
