State power utility ZESCO has announced that it has cut its generation capacity from the current 540MW to 305 MW to avert a premature shutdown of the Kariba North Bank Power Station.
ZESCO Senior Manager for Marketing and Public Relations Bessie Banda announced during a news conference that water levels at Kariba have worsened.
Ms Banda said continued generation of power from Kariba of around 540MW would have meant completely shutting down the power plant.
She said the worsening water levels have been occasioned by the usage patterns that have developed since load shedding commenced.
‘What we have observed is that most customers are over using power once supply is restored, most of them are not having power for close to 8 Hours and once supply is restored, they are over using both power which is now defeating the purpose of load shedding,’ Ms Banda said.
When are these dodos going to understand the simple principle of Supply and Demand?
Must we spell it out for them word by word?
If you want to curb usage, INCREASE THE PRICE!
PF has really put dull people in charge of the Nation!
Increase the price of power then the price of everything that uses power for production will increase. Imports will be cheaper than what we produce. Copper exports will too high in costs compared to other produces. PF are not that stupid to attempt this close to elections.
@Patrick, so what is the alternative? PF is fcuked if they do, and fcuked if they dont!
To paraphrase it – all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put the water back into Kariba DAM!
The options now, after the water has gone under the bridge, are use the remaining water to earn ZESCO some cash and give the Zambian public a usable power system, or keep going with what we have now and Zambia will spend Christmas in darkness!
I do not think Zambians will love PF and Jamesoni if the second option is what he gives the Nation for Christmas!
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What!! Can 8hrs loadshedding almost daily get any worse? This is becoming criminal mismanagement.So has zesco been sitting down waiting for rains or have they actually been working out something alternative?Who is the CEO / why hasn’t he come out himself to address the nation on this crisis.Is he capable of handling the situation?
In transparent and accountable democracies the CEO of ZESCO would have been called in front of a Parliamentary Committee responsible for Energy and asked to explain but since we elect MPs whose highest qualification is a certificate in Business Marketing from Joe Public college, this is the mediocrity you will be getting.
‘What we have observed is that most customers are over using power once supply is restored, most of them are not having power for close to 8 Hours and once supply is restored, they are over using both power which is now defeating the purpose of load shedding,’ Ms Banda said.
This is utter stupidity of the highest order of course when power is restored there is going to be a surge in usage as people will turn on appliances, water pumps, stoves etc….people pay for that electricity its not free.
Zesco – what do you expect people have to earn a living. All industries are working around your premature schedule to ensure goods are supplied under contract. Your approach to this is issue is less that crazy. What is your next move reduce supply and cause more uncomfort for the public.
Space a thought for the SMEs like Small Manufacturing firms Take Aways, Hair Salons..how would you honestly make a profit with 8 hours of load-shedding?
loan civil servants solar pannels which can light their houses and power refrigerators.let the remaining power be used by industries. buying power from other countries is more expensive than buying solar pannels. plan for the future in case it does not rain as expected
These danda heads can not plan like that, they would rather use the money corruption campaigns the try to save what little production we have.
Get all the public servants on treadmills to generate power …………………
Better still completely remove customs duty on imported Solar Panels, Commercial Solar Batteries, Charge controllers, Inverters, DC and AC loaders etc.. to encourage off-grid usage of solar power by people ie Developers, Landlords etc. Also encourage the training of Solar Power installation in colleges.
Our prayer is that come October, it will rain for 40 days & forty nights so we get back to normal.
The Zambezi does not reach its flood level into Kariba til mid January or early February. October is the lowest level of the river.
for a start an example is on Munali road just past ZNS is a Turkish block making factory with very heavy loud equipment. This is a major disturbance as they work through the night. As a buisness do as we all have to do get a generator and work through the day like everyone else. Empty office blocks at night should have to turn off lights or get fined
A small start but it helps
These guys at ZESCO need to tell the nation the truth. Water level on the Zambezi river which feeds the kariba dam is not the major problem. If it were then Mozambique would be facing the same problems since they also get water from the Zambezi river to run their turbines. And if indeed lack of water in the Kariba dam is the reason for low power supply then ZESCO should tell people not to expect any improvement soon because it takes three years of good rainfall to fill the Kariba dam.
The reason for load-shedding is that ZESCO decided to replace the original turbines with some low capacity turbines they bought from China. Let the truth be told!!!
Saivonga is not on Mars. Drive there and see how low the water level is other than insulting innocent souls that are trying their best to supply us with power for some hours each day.
Commenting on things you do not know is retrogressive and a sign of dullness.
@Chinena. When ZRA was set up the agreement was that Zimbabwe provides the CEO and Zambial houses the H/Q. Kariba House is in Lusaka within the town centre. Kariba North Bank had 4 machines producing about 600MW which was slightly increased when the machines were refurbished under the Power Rehabilitation Project. The station’s capacity was again increased with 2 additional machines bringing the total to about 1000 MW. ZESCO started using all 6 machines. Perhaps Zesco did not realise the impact on the usage of water using 6 MACHINES and was not aware of the IMPEDINNG DROUGHT. The water is shared equally between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The impact is less on Zimbabwe because it did not extend its Power Station (600MW) Water Mismanagement?
The stuff up is that the Chinese put extra turbines in Kariba and thus more water goes out and then the water pressure drops but Cabora Basa has been left as it was and is working fine. now the Chinese want to build a new dam at Batoka this will not work as it will cut the flow to Kariba and there will only be enough water and pressure to operate 5 months of the year plus it will distroy tourism at the Vic Falls and put thousands of Zambians out of work in the Livingstone area. Anything the Chinese do is substandard , they cut corners after all what Chinese products last very long?. as far as they are concerned get the minerals and farm land, they don’t care about Zambia. the biggest dam in China was a flop never worked. what Zambia should do is talk to the Canadians who have the worlds…
The lazy Bum in State House can not understand even simple a Water Cycle …he has bigger issues to think of like what silly hat he is going to wear at the airport on his way to New York this month
Batoka dam is DOWNSTREAM from the Falls. Get your facts right.
And the plan for that one is a run-of-the-river, so it will NOT affect Kariba, it will complement it.
It is the best solution.
Unfortunately these PROVEN FAILURES were too busy renaming airports, creating new districts, making by-elections and traveling the world at Taxpayers expense to see the writing on the wall.
As someone said, NO VISION! Blinded by GREED!
A Ken Kafue River joins The Zambezi after Kariba and over 400 km after the falls. How can another plant on Kafue River affect the falls and Kariba? Looks like you can’t even read maps. Since you are computer literate just use Google maps to understand the geography. For now you are clueless and not credible to condemn anyone. Stick to what you know or understand.
Kazeya, I truly hope it can rain cats and dogs once the heavens open up. But between you and me, I will tell you that it will not be bucketing as expected due to massive deforestation that has been going on since the load shedding commenced early this year. Not that there was no charcoal burning before. It was there, but has now taken on a frightening dimension. I could not believe my eyes the other time I went to Lusaka when I saw trucks so overloaded with charcoal that they could only move at a snails pace. And you see this everywhere. Sidings are all full of charcoal. So where are the rains going to come from without trees? Expect reduced rains this rain season. If the rate of deforestation is not drastically reduced and measures put in place to replenish the forests, Zambia will be a…
Zambia will be a desert soon!
Continued from my post above ………biggest Hydro power dams and supply Canada and sell to the Eastern US sea board (Washington and New York and beyond)
Bring them to Zambia to sort out the power problem after all they are our Commonwealth brothers they will help us. After all they supply 150,000,000 people and only 5,000 000 people in Zambia have power so should be easy for them.
You think the Canadians will just help Zambia for the sake of helping? When was the last time a white man did anything for a black man for free,for the sake of being sweet.It’s time we put our own Zambian brains to work.(wishful thinking I guess)..How much will the Canadians charge us again? LOL
kwena kuli !mbwa mu zambia. its unbelievable!!! kikikikiki, muzachucha. ine i dont understand our people. ninshi ichilubene naifwe kanshi?
Here in Sasa Filika we have managed to go 23 days without load shedding because we have opened a phase of one new station called Medupi and we have coopted private suppliers. Ngaimwe tamwakwata initiative uko?
This is a catastrophe unfolding before our very eyes. There are two issues to contend with here: first is the poorly maintained Kariba Dam infrastructure that, not too long ago needed urgent attention. Water has been let out to ease pressure. Second is that the substandard equipment sourced from the Chinese has only compounded the problem. That dam is more river-fed than it is rain fed. We are still using pontoons to cross it downstream as normal. This set of circumstances must be explained clearly to our people instead of peddling lies hoping that one day you will say the leadership has brought back electricity. This is mediocrity of the worst order playing out in what should be a civilized nation.
You are terribly wrong my brother, ZRA did not open spill gates thus year due to low water levels. Check with met to educate yourself on how much rains Southern Africa received in the last rainy season. ZESCO has some of the best brains in Africa when it comes to electricity management.
I did not know that in this day and age Zambians could still be this ignorant. What have the Chinese to do with low water levels? What is comparison between Mozambique and Zambia? Surely if you dont understand anything you ask those who know. Or better still come and visit kariba noth bank and see for yourself and learn, you are most welcome.
Ok. Enlighten us…
….if the north bank is low, how come Vic falls has normal water for this time of the year. Where is that water going?
…..How come caborabasa day down stream is producing as normal?
Analist is absolutely right, increase prices and you will have solved the problem of over consumption and get new investors in the sector. They have done it in Sausi Aflica with steep price hikes and we still buy their products, have they remained competive or not tell me?
When I listened to her on ZNBC TV, ZESCO Senior Manager for Marketing and Public Relations Bessie Banda seemed to be suggesting that it is domestic and not commercial or industrial customers who over using power once supply is restored. If that is so, then the solution is to increase the price of electricity. This will not necessarily result in the increase in prices of goods and services. What goods or services do domestic customers produce?
Most of those domestic customers are business owners. If the cost of living for them increases, that cost is passed on to their customers.
What I am proposing is an increase in the price for domestic customers. This will result in more disciplined and prudent use of power.
In kombonies like chawama, mutendere kabwata, those areas are classed as residential, not industrial but you will find a lot of business activities like welding, tailoring. All those pipo will be out of business with electricity hikes if they can’t pass on the costs. In urban areas almost everything is related to the cost of electricity.
PF know if they increase electricity prices now, that will be the end of them.
Comment: just reduce generation to 1megawat.
“Overusing”? Come on. Next you will be accusing people of “hoarding” electricity and arresting South African “spies” who are deliberately leaving the lights on
Comment: over using power!! LOL.
This P.F, Party is the worst Demon that was let out of the bottle.
Clueless incompetent imbeci1es!!
But how is it that Kariba South Bank (Zimbabwe) is not in a crisis like ours, even when they tap power from the same drying Kariba dam?
My brother both Zambia and Zimbabwe are rationing the water. In fact the dam is not managed by ZESCO, but Zambezi River Authority whose H/Q is in Zimbabwe. If you are in Zambia just visit Siavonga to see how low the level in the lake is. There are to many ignorant people here commenting rubbish. Edgar is not the one managing ZESCO. The company has qualified Engineers trained within and abroad. They understand power generation far better than you commenting here.
Hahahaha kwena we have been played a fast one by the Chinese. That dam was built in the colonial days now because of cheap labour we brought in Chinese to put extra turbines which are not functioning to their expectation.
Honestly naimwe ba zesco,the moment you restore power I should not charge my phone,switch on the fridge,iron my clothes?All in the name of load shedding?Switch off the machines kanshi so that you save all the power that you need to save.What do you expect us to do?Power is restored and we continue staying in the dark?iyo yena yalashupako.
Vyakulolevye.Ndelolekeshako fye .lol its natural so let it be .We are a Christian country so we should just pray for more rains there is no need of planning lol.
And to think the entire Zesco management flew to Switzerland for one week for a strategic planning session in MArch this year!
These swines must be put on trial for economic SABOTAGE!
They have shown that they are a threat to National security.
What I know is that Majority Directors at ZESCO have big Chinese made Generators at their farms which I believe they received as pecks. These are huge and highly visible automatic generators which automatically kick in once load something starts. If you don’t believe take a visit to Chalala or a long Kafue Road before you reach quarrys where some of these Directors have small holdings or the so called farms. While we in Matero or Mandevu, Chaisa are struggling, these guys are rearing thousands of chickens such as 20,000 with which they come to exploit us by selling at high prices. That is partly reason why ZESCO management does not bother to look at alternatives this despite the expensive meetings they attend abroad periodically. They will never learn and what with Philippine…
Zesco need a competitor. Look at Lafarge, since the coming of Dangote on the scene of cement business, prices of cement are going down. If Dangote had not come on the scene with the Kwacha going down everyday, the price of cement could have been around K100.00 per pocket. To Dangote I say a big THANK YOU. You have taught Lafarge a lesson.
No wonder ZESCO is a failed company! So Bessie Banda what are you saying? Customers are over using power once it is restored? Is it really overusing? So when someone starts to iron clothes after 8-10 hrs of load shedding you call it over usage ? We start to cook when we have had load shedding iris over usage? ZESCO staff should keep their mouths shut because they are irritation us.
Zesco is a “Failed Company”, just as Zambia is a “Failed Nation”.
Only in Zamba would the CEO of ZESCo get away with this nonsense! Load shedding! The Managing Director of ZESCO is not affected by the load shedding because his area never gets it. So how would he know the upheaval and misery his company is causing. In other countries he would have resigned because of not having any solutions to the problem!
Directors with Lusaka based Filipino Doctorates at ZESCO, ala twachula
you can never take the zambian mind out of a zambian.
THIS, COUPLED BY VICTOR MUNDENDE’S THIEVING AT ZESCO. OH MY GOD. VICTOR IS A PLUNDERER THERE AT ZESCO. THE BOY IS STEALING BIG TIME, AND ABUSING THE ZESCO WORKERS AND ZESCO RESOURCES. WHAT IS WRONG WITH EDGAR LUNGU? WHY APPOINT THIEVES LIKE VICTOR MUNDENDE THE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ZESCO, A COMPANY WHICH NEEDS PRUDENT MANAGERS? LUNGU IS INDEED CHEAP!
So now we are getting 16 hr power cuts. 00.00 – 06.00 hrs then 14-22 hrs. We only have 8 hrs of power per day. What type of nonsense is this? No efforts to correct or improve the situation. ZESCO’s management solution is to increase the period of load shedding and to continue to cause upheaval. Yet one of their managers has the audacity to say we are over using power when it is restored.ZESCO Management should resign.