The Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) has disclosed that the country will experience reduced load shedding in the next two days when repair works on the Kariba North bank power station are completed.
Late last month, Kariba North bank power station experienced a mechanical failure while Unit five (5) at Kafue Gorge power station was also undergoing repair works after developing a fault.
ZESCO Principal Public Relations Officer Yammie Zimba told ZANIS in Lusaka today that the power utility company was working tirelessly to rectify the faulty machines.
Ms. Zimba said Unit Four (4) at Kariba North station, which is being repaired, was expected to resume running this Wednesday.
She urged customers to take responsibility by switching off unnecessary loads such as geysers and lighting when not needed for use.
Ms. Zimba attributed the recent intermittent power supply in the country to failure of large generating units at the two power stations.
She explained that the thrust bearing failed on unit 5 at Kafue Gorge while the combined bearing top cover bolts got snapped at unit 4 at Kariba North Bank Power Station thereby leading to the downtime of the two machines.
She added that this subsequently led to a flat deficit of 345 Mega Watts (MW) as opposed to about 70 MW deficit at peak time when all the machines are operating at full capacity.
Ms. Zimba has since assured the country that there will be reduced load-shedding now that the machine at Kafue was operational and the other at Kariba will soon be running.
Recently, ZESCO apologised to the nation for the unplanned load shedding of electricity which was a result of mechanic failures at Kafue Gorge and Kariba North Bank respectively.
useless!!! Zesco has failed like ukwa
Did your Father manage anything in his life?make comparisons first…If he has not contributed to anything in this country,then shut up and make up for your old man.
ba Maps, address his concern…has ZESCO been a success or failure? Don’t get emotional here.
Even here in UK we have Zesco problems what are you talking about.
HAS A 5 YEAR TERM ALREADY ENDED TO JUDGE WHOEVER YOU MEAN AS A FAILURE? YOU HAVE NEVER EVEN BEEN TO ZAMBIA, IWE.
Some things will never change
Too bad the corporation has repeatedly failed Zambians on a number of occasions. Management’s sing song attribution of this & that failure to this & that reason is boring and irritating. Shouldn’t we begin to think of management over haul at that institution like what is normal in advanced societies when failure becomes a prevalent story? Oh the chicken ‘hang man’ is at the helm there. So no redress expected in the foreseeable future I suppose.
that is the way to go,zesco powering the nation
Mulichipuba Imwe
its jst a reduced load shedding nothing exciting, the machines r old, Zesco get a load and develop a new from scratch power station to help the old struggling old ones.. give use areal future plan..
Nonsense !!!!!!!!!!
If it was in MMD people would have said, ni RB.
If ZESCO was a political party. It would ………
It would have been kicked out by now
Absolutely, it would have been de-registered. Quite right
Imagine no power since Friday last week and Zesco is just saying we are working the problem. Useless Zesco, how I wish there was another company providing the same service. Surprisingly, all the faults has to be reported to Lusaka, were is the the decentralistion?
Zesco is not fit for purpose.
Does the ever inefficient Zesco know what lack of power does to investment and our GDP?
At last bafikwimbi. But how long does it take to fix ama faults?
ZESCO will continue having these problems so long as the high turnover of senior engineers is not addressed. The ZESCO of old was a model of efficiency despite foreign exchange limitations, not withstanding the Kafue Gorge fire. When the MMD came into power it fired the MD and replaced him with its own MD who in turn fired all the directors. In 1996 this MD fired over 70 senior engineers. From that time each succeeding MD fires all the directors he finds. ZESCO is a highly technical institution which cannot afford to lose its highly trained engineers in this manner. When you overhaul an engine you replace bearings with new ones. These machines were recently overhauled. How can the thrust bearing fail? Is this the price ZESCO is paying for awarding the repair contract corruptly?
ZESCO needs a management shake up…honestly what excuse have they got now – Kariba North should be up and running….they have lamentably failed to keep up to schedule. Its a shame business in Zambia don’t sue them for loss of business if that was the case I tell you this corporation would have been on point.
JUST WAIT FOR ALL OUR PROJECTS TO FINISH .YOU WILL EVEN FAIL TO CONDEMN.AS AN ENGINEER EXPECT FAULTS ON EQUIPMENT AND PLAN LONG TERM
If you read their plan of action last year I do not think you would stick to your argument….It is way behind schedule….remember I was vouching for these guys!!
I thought I was going to get a comprehensive answer from the coordinator pertaining to the issue of our money and contracts but nothing has materialized. The curiosity and anxiety to get a comment from the secretariat has reached to an alarming level. This has prompted me to think of writing this memo with the sole purpose of making you conscious of the gravity and severity of the situation TIDOs are passing through. This is no longer supposed to be regarded as a challenge but a disaster. In this regards, I have seen it imperative to inform you for this will have a negative consequences to the evaluation scheduled for next week. Is the guy who is coming to do the evaluation bringing us something? I don’t think I will withstand this pressure anymore. I have tried my level best…
Load shedding is now part of the Zambian way of life… OSA Kamba….nothing is going to happen….take AMA initiative, invest in Solar technology…at least you can power your lights and may be even watch champions league, don’t get me started with ZNBC!
ZESCO is no longer a commercially viable entity, that’s why you have other Foreign entities setting Coal Power Plants, because the ROI is much quicker and does not require sophisticated engineers…..On the other hand if Zesco was to charge an economic rate for KWH consumption…I can presume ‘ more money in the Slush Fund and less in our pockets’….