By Antonio Mwanza
For 23 years, the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) has been reaping off Zambians; buying electricity at ridiculously low rates, and selling it to the mines at extremely exorbitant rates.
For 23 years, an ordinary widow in Kalingalinga has been paying more in electricity tariffs compared to CEC, a corporation, which has been racking millions of dollars in profits, buying cheap power at the expense of poor Zambians.
This very unpatriotic arrangement that was signed between ZESCO and CEC in 1997 has denied ZESCO the opportunity to raise the necessary resources to expand its generation, distribution, and transmission capacity as the mines which CEC supplies are actually the largest consumers of power.
Yesterday Government issued a Statutory Instrument declaring all transmission and distribution lines operated by the Copperbelt Energy Corporation (CEC) as common carriers following the expiration of the Power Supply Agreement between ZESCO and CEC which expired last night.
This means that other players in the electricity market can now use these lines for commercial purposes on AGREED terms and conditions.
It is important to note that the Government has NOT grabbed the infrastructure from CEC and no one can use this infrastructure without AGREED terms with the parties.
The government must be commended for ending this slave arrangement by refusing to allow CEC to continue exploiting our people and denying ZESCO the much-needed resources for expansion works.
It is the duty of the Government to protect its people from exploitation and Government is on firm ground to compel everyone, including large corporations like CEC to be paying cost-reflective tariffs in order to help ZESCO raise enough resources to increase and expand its generation, distribution, and transmission capacity in order to afford all Zambians access to affordable electricity.
Until a win-win arrangement is made, the Government will not allow a few corporate individuals no matter who they are to exploit the masses.
The Author is Patriotic Front Deputy Media Director.
This a commercial agreement so how can you blame CEC for the agreement. And do you understand CEC cost structure to accuse them of reaping the Zambians. Antonio, this is not your domain and you don’t understand the issues and making a full of yourself as usual
Antonio from “No one but you” has spoken
SHUT UP ANTIONIO MWANZA. YOU,PEOPLE IN PF ARE THIEVES. ALOT OF COMPANIES MADE DONATIONS AND U SAID U BOUGHT SOWING MACHINES AND THE VINTENGE WITH ECL FACE WERE DONATED TO THE TAILORS IN MANDEVU,CB ETC SO THAT THEY MAKE FREE FACE MASKS FOR THE SCHOOL CHILDREN OF WHICH THEY WILL BE GIVEN FREE. BUT THAT WAS A BIG LIE CZ THE KIDS IN EXAM CLASSES WHO HAVE OPENED UP SCHOOLS ARE SOLD THE FACE MASKS. WHAT ABOUT IF THE PUPIL COMES FROM A VERY POOR FAMILY WHAT HAPPENS? STOP THIS NONSENSE AS IF U ARE SO CARING WHEN YOU ARE NOT.
What about the money pf is stealing from us?egfiretender and roads
Viva PF, Zambia first. Well said Antonio, it’s amazing that you can reason better than hh who is in full support of CEC. And he wants to be president??? To hell with hh, to hell with upnd, abash hh, the slave master’s stooge!!!!
Wht about the Zesco/Maamba Colliery power agreement where the former buys electricity at a higher tariff than it sells it to its consumers?
Hooray!
But then, what happens to all the employees? Will they continue in their employment under a new company?
I m not a party cadre but on this one Antonio is right. CEC is funding arm of UPND as is SANLAM life Insurance which get cream and Zesco and zisc get nothing. Both get money from Zambian public and shoo it goes to HH’s, Mulupi and their manipulative Boer masters. Transfer pricing on Sanlam will reveal how much HH has taken away.
PLEASE CHECK THIS – PF Central Committee has constitutes a taskforce to look into the Power Purchase Agreement Zesco and CEC
March 2, 2020/36 views/23
Pf!
The masters of corruption and deceipt!
This narrative that somehow CEC is stealing from Zesco is such rubbish.
The only ones exploiting zesco are pf! They are using zesco as a cash cow with several of their caders in zesco.
They then moved on to take over KCM promising to revitalise it and dismantle its debt. But all we have seen is pf lawyers been given to liquidate so that they get huge amounts of money and fund pf.
Now they have gone after CEC. They want to take over CEC and turn it into the next cash cow. Chapwa
ZESCO has had a monopoly of power production and transmission across most of zambia since independence and are still failing because they are a PF cash cow….now they are out to grab from profitable companies …….
Why dosent ZESCO increase the price of power they supply to CEC ???
If CEC are making such a rippoff , why dosent GRZ tax them accordingly ??
Why can’t ZESCO build their own transmission lines to the mines if they think their is more money there ??
This is how failed regimes operate , they grab private entities to scheme off the profits…….
Don’t forget , lungu and PF have a monthly bill running into millions to bribe their unemployed caders who they need for oppression
But you see the small minded caders on this blog accusing CEC of wrongdoing!
These caders survive on spreading propaganda and bootlicking. They cant do an honest day’s job because they have no talent, no skills, no morals. All they know is lies, deciept, greed, corruption.
We see them on this blog daily telling lies and calling critics all kinds on names.
When you make any well thought out critism of pf, they call you names. But we forgive them because without bootlicking, they cant survive. They would be running kantemba businesses, selling sweets. Thats the caliber of pf bloggers here.
And they especially hate those of us who are skilled enough to work in high skill, high talent, strategic jobs in the diaspora and they habour bitterness and resentment.
Not our fault that you are…
“Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad.” Euripides (c. 485-406 B.C.)
The moment you allow cadres to control private sectors, then expect eroding of investors confidence.
Let the law prevail without interference from these PF dimwits.
PF must go!
That’s why Zambians don’t have confidence in upnd, look at the comments from its supporters above?? Western and N/W is turning from upnd because of this attitude. In their shallow tribalistic, imperialistic and elitist heads, CEC should continue ripping off Zambians-get below cost power and overcharge the mines and externalise the profits??? There should never be a upnd govt. in Zambia, God forbid!!!!?
WE WANT TO SEE HOW STRONG MR MILUPI IS. His pal
2021 Hazaluza Hagain (HH)
Antonio mwanza ……
Since KZ has taken cover ,
can you tell lungu we will never forget the innocent civilians burned in our towns because of your gassing our citizens……
Their lives will not be in vain , someone or some people in PF will be held accountable as accessory to mass murder
Madilu, Please familiarize yourself with the issue at hand before shooting blanks. Spaka’s post enlightening. As a PF supporter, I am atleast able to relate with what he’s said.
Kantemba bloggers!
Whenever they see an intelligent well thought out argument that exposes them, they are quick to run to name calling.
I always laugh at how I have been called a UPND, tonga tribalist by a certain blogger here, when I am bemba, with royal blood, and I have never been UPND. But because I call out the corruption and incompetence of the pf thugs, I am called names. So laughable.
Anyway, CEC has been a great locally owned business that has employed so many zambians with great working conditions. Its only a group of reckless, corrupt, greedy, shallow minded thugs that would be so eager to destroy such a great organisation. Thankfully CEC has expanded beyond zambian borders, so you wont be able to completel vanquish them.
PF are working on the premise that the KCM they took over to fund their operations will be more giving if it gets free power from ZESCO……only CEC stands in the way.
It is the failed PF cash cow that is ZESCO that needs to be split up…….you promised end of load shedding after 200 % tariff increase , still massive load shedding , now CEC is a scape goate……..
and water from overflowing Vic falls not reaching the dam because of too many stopovers along the way ????
Mr Antonio Mwanza, while you were eating grass with Miss Edith Nawakwi, the Patriotic Front wrote a manifesto in which it pledged to separate power generation, transmission and distribution. ZESCO would no longer have the monopoly. This idea was mooted by the brains at the foundation of PF as Mr Sata and Dr Scott set up. Fast forward to 2020, PF has been hijacked by leeches and parasites like you who think that ZESCO should hang on to generating, transmitting and distributing power. Could it be that you are jealous of the Zambians in CEC? You would not have dared to do such a dastardly thing if CEC was owned by Chungwans.
This PF ***** chap is yapping like a lunatic.
He does not understand anything about CEC company.
You can only talk like that to your fellow PF *****s.
It cannot be true that CEC has been buying power from Zesco cheaply. CECis a price taker like anyone else. If that is what has been really happening, then it’s Zesco’s fault.
Ba Mwanza, this has being known all these years!!!! CEC used to be the ZCCM Power division and sponsored Power football club(aba Yellow, How I detest the team). For your own information, they trained and sponsored a lot of electrical engineers and artisans. During the disbanding of ZCCM group of mines and sold as single identities. CEC also devolved and sized an opportunity to continue supplying power using their exiting infrastructure by buying power from ZESCO, ESKOM sometimes from Congo, cheaply and sold for a profit. until recently, they have being buying and transmitting power but the have also gone into generation power. Tt’s run as business venture, it’s up to the buyer to negotiate a price they feel would make economic sense. KCM is a mess and can’t afford to pay, because of…
SO THE pf GOVERNOMENT want to bring a foreign investor?
If PF meant well for the people of Zambia this article would make so much sense,now since you never mean well please shut up, you say hospitals need ambulances look at what your government does when buying….the country needs fire fighting machines look at what your government does,so even with CEC we know you have a hidden agenda. we no longer trust you now! if i was the head of state i would call the CEC management to help manage ZESCO cause Zesco has really failed lamentably.
Please fcuk off! I have never seen a government that takes pride in destroying Zambian-owned businesses and we have baboons here that support them!
Iwe chi Dunderhead Zambian citizen externalize profits how when that is a Zambian-owned company?? But the dullness in PF is terrifying!!
Should this thing later blow-up and CEC be awarded millions against the state, can we hold certain individuals personally liable even if they are out of office? I am still sore about the Lapgreen and more recently Prof Chirwa blunders. Our leaders can just make whatever decisions they like and we the people have to foot the bill for their messes! Annoying!
I fail to interact here because we have a lot of dull mouths…….Action taken by the government has been done in nation interest. If you are not happy, go and hug a live wire.
Tesheti
“…I fail to interact here because we have a lot of dull mouths…….Action taken by the government has been done in nation interest. If you are not happy, go and hug a live wire…..”
Was paying $42 million for fire trucks that cost $18 million max done in nation intrest ? Or the negative GDP ? Or the double digit inflation ?
Or was the gassing of our people also done in nation intrest ????.
I always talk about commission of inquiry on privatization. This CEC was part of Government under ZCCM and its was called ZCCM Power Division. Instead of handing it over to ZESCO, someone decided to put it in private hands. A lot of dirt happened during privatization that needs bringing to the fore for future deterrence
I really do not see any problem or is it the culture of not being able to read or understand English.
– the SI states that CEC infrastructure is now a common carrier, whoever wants to use it must go and sign a commercial agreement with CEC pay and use it. This applies to KCM
– At this moment KCM has no agreement the temp agreement expired yesterday(SI says you need to have agreement to use CEC infrastructure) and CED is now cutting power and on top of that KCM need to pay arrears US$142m
So whats the problem???
“For 23 years, an ordinary widow in Kalingalinga has been paying more in electricity tariffs compared to CEC, a corporation, which has been racking millions of dollars in profits, buying cheap power at the expense of poor Zambians.” Never heard something as stup!d as this come from Antonio Mwanza.
Whose infrastructure was CEC using to transport the bulk power it was buying at order price from ZESCO?
It’s on our soil, we just grab it back. Govt, go right ahead and grab the infrastructure from CEC. They are being disruptive.
YOU NEED TO SORT ZESCO OUT BEFORE 2021. Show the people something……..!
All together……WE WANT POWER (no more load shedding)!
PF is so allergic to law and order. They are so determined to render CEC useless, after successfully destroying Zesco. Well done !!
Son of Bee each.
Too many Tongas in CEC … supporting HH with money from inflated electricity pricing….wenyo
TheEngineer
Why haven’t GRZ made all ZESCO transmission lines common carriers ?
Let independent power producers sell power directly to the homes then , because it is ZESCO ripping off Zambians and the more providers we will have supplying directly to customers the cheaper power will be
Those who aspire to public Office must undergo compulsory training in Public Administration. This was meant to minimize public liability arising from maladministration and impulsive transgressions of Administration Law. A case in point is the impulsive Firing of Prof Chirwa by late impulsive Sata. Tax payers now have a new Bill to pay Prof Chirwa in damages. KCM and CEC owners are next in line for compensation because of the impulsive decisions being made! Zambians will pay for PF sins!
Isn’t CEC a zambian owned company? The PF is trying to close this company too am sure. My question is how has CEC been ripping off Zambians when they purchase power from Zesco like we all do. ZESCO has enjoyed a monopoly for far too long CEC needs to step up and provide competition maybe ZESCO will wake up then. For 23 years ZESCO has been ripping us of as individuals that is what chanda is implying charging us ridiculous high prices while CEC was getting it cheap right. How about the taxes CEC has been paying for that period of time what is PF saying about it? The corporate social responsibility program that they have been undertaking why is Chanda quiet on that too, has govt not indirectly enjoyed too?
As we are on social media we should also pay attention to whats happening around us. Before 31st March 2020 when the CEC/Zesco contract of 1997 was coming to an end Zesco engaged CEC and advised them that the prices of electricity have been revised upwards just like for every citizen and that they will not sign a length contract of 20 years due to price fluctuations. CEC refused to accept the new prices and also wanted a length contract of another 20 years. This is what has brought us to this point you ‘intelligent’ bloggers. I hope you understand now.
If you felt CEC was ripping off Zambians, all you and your misfiring Zesco needed to do was to raise your wholesale price to CEC. By declaring CEC infrastructure a common carrier is just a take over of CEC infrastructure by force, that is what has happened here nothing else. And by the way, just some free advice to PF,please start working, so far your performance has been extremely poor. Wynter Kabimba correctly called your economy as a run away economy because everything is going down. You have a lot of work to do but you are busy fighting CEC. Auto pilot….
I thinks it’s true that a lot of black people agre generally stupid, especially in Zambia. We all knew CEC was literally trading in power, buying it cheap from ZESCO and selling it at a premium to the mines. Just like the Zambian government is doing with oiul, the price of oil is now next to nothing but Lungu and his thugs are still selling petroal and diesel for the same price they did when a barrel of oil was US$150. And the middlemen are all PF. At the end of the day, its Zambians being conned, by PF and by CEC.
Antonio and other PF functionaries are on the Zesco payroll.its only natural for them to think the other business has been reaping off Zesco.
Ba Mwanza nkalani che zii ngamulibe vokamba
nga fibi finshi?
twebeni ifishelepo,
nangu ifyalakokapo
@Zambian Citizen: “CEC should continue ripping off Zambians-get below cost power and overcharge the mines and externalise the profits??? There should never be a upnd govt. in Zambia, God forbid!!!!?”
And you expect the mines to agree to be exploited? Citizen, what kind of mental sickness do you have that Chainama has failed to heal?
Here is another guy blowing his sh!£ from the fun .These guys are absolute jocks
Who owns CEC and how did that come to pass. Comment only if you know the answer. How did this arrangement start? Go back to the time of ZCCM? You will be educated on why certain things were done and are still important? While there tell me who the current Managing Director for CEC is? That in itself will show you why partisan politics are dirt and should not be allowed in matters that involve national assets.
IT IS RIPPING OFF NOT REAPING OFF.
OTHERWISE MWANZA IS 100% RIGHT ABOUT THE DIABOLICAL SCAM THAT WENT UNNOTICED UNDER THE RADAR FOR A LONG TIME.
THE SO-CALLED CEC INFRASTRUCTURE SHOULD BE NATIONALIZED NOW TO RECOUP ZAMBIA’S LOSSES OVER THE YEARS.
PF is really a bunch of coward-*****s. PF has no balls to deal with Chinese and other foreigners who are plundering resources, and yet they become jealousy of Zambians who are successful.