The country’s power utility company, ZESCO has been advised to consider doing away with the rampant load shedding before trying to adjust its tariffs upwards.
Governance activist Bonny Tembo says there is no way the company can be thinking of adjusting the tariffs when it is not showing any signs of improvement.
Mr. Tembo tells QFM that ZESCO should only think of adjusting its tariffs once the problem of load shedding is sorted out because it is negatively impacting on the poor, especially those in the townships.
And Mr. Tembo has appealed to the Energy Regulation Board to put the interest of poor people first and compel ZESCO to stop the unnecessary load shedding.
Zesco has re-applied to the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) for an upward adjustment by November this year to enable it to collect adequate financial resources to maintain infrastructure.
If approved, metered residential tariffs with consumption of 100 to 300 kilowatts (KW) per hour will increase to K343.46 from K250.70 while consumption above 301KW will increase to K559.81 from K408.62 with fixed monthly charges increasing to over K20, 000 from the current K14, 629.
Prepaid energy charges will increase to K381 from K278.
princess
August 19, 2012 at 9:38 pm
Iyo kwena ni more money in our pockets. It was minimum wage now its zesco tarrif adjusting upwards, PF ni zeeee.
gibz
August 19, 2012 at 10:20 pm
de wrld z gtin tougha n tough.
LEE J
August 19, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Zesco should really improve their service derivers. Because it doesn’t make any sense to adjust the tariffs upwards when the service is so poor .
BA KAONDE
August 20, 2012 at 12:05 am
That’s why people end up by-passing things it is becz of the same.tarrif charges going up whenever u think of buying your girlfriend a car.u think everybody is rich u maggots
ABAKONZI
August 20, 2012 at 12:37 am
Increasin tariffs for what now,maintainance come that’s just by the way.What zesco needs is to improve on the management andd accountability of its money resources.I say so because every year the Auditor Generals report on zesco is always scandalous.Its always mismanagent of funds,an indicator that no matter how much money zesco collects,it will never be enough to maintain its infrast.zesco clean up your house and we may consider paying you a little bit more
umuzombiki
August 20, 2012 at 12:39 am
these KANKAWORMS export power on our expense…basakalanyongo…! Fyola…!
tt
August 20, 2012 at 12:42 am
where is the benefit of the increased salaries & ‘minimum wage’ if the prices of things like electricity,transport and other goods and services are increased?
yalmaz
August 20, 2012 at 7:39 am
zesco stinks..very soon loadsheding is going to be more fatal than hiv,ma rubbish zesco
Grade One
August 20, 2012 at 8:15 am
as a grade one i know that load shedding has made zesco broke because fewer households consume power. now they want to increase the tariffs to make up for the loss, gigo!
correct
August 20, 2012 at 12:34 pm
Zesco is exporting power to other nations when the local demand haven’t been met.other countries should only be supplied with eccess power.
tallmike
August 20, 2012 at 12:51 pm
The only way to solve problems at zesco,privatise the company in two parts.Sell all distribution entities in towns to independent investers.Transmission of power from power stations to other investers and then Zesco maintain ownership of power stations.This will curb over employment currently prevailing at zesco and bring about seriousness to the work altitude.
gunda
August 20, 2012 at 7:10 pm
UNMETERED CUSTOMERS IN FOR MORE AGONY!ZESCO SHOULD NOT WORRY BCOZ THE REGIME IS ON THEIR SIDE.TRY TO COMPLAIN PIPO YOU WILL BE BRUTALISED!
uar
August 21, 2012 at 3:11 pm
ba zesco bamafiiii…………..
Analyst
August 23, 2012 at 12:54 am
Zesco as a company gnerates a lot of money being the largest monopoly of electricity generation in zambia.But we do not wnt to suffer due to poor decisions and choices that the pipo responsible and accountable for the running of zesco continue to make. This should be a wake up call for us all ZAMBIANS to understand how exploitative monopoly companies can be.For many years nw we hav not had major infrastructure in relation to power geration apart from the famous kariba dam.Development should move hand in hand with improvement in service delivery,infrastracture in all key sectors of the economy and a well informed citizenry.