North Western Energy Corporation (NWEC) has announced plans to list on the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) as it seeks to raise fresh capital to support its diversification programme and allow Zambians and other investors to acquire shares in the company.
NWEC Managing Director Andrew Kamanga said the planned listing would help the company strengthen its financial base while opening ownership to the public.
Kamanga said recent government efforts to stabilise macroeconomic fundamentals and implement energy sector reforms have placed Zambia in a better position to avoid power shortages similar to those experienced last year.
NWEC, the country’s largest independent power distributor, has operated for 17 years in key districts of North-Western Province, including Solwezi, Kalumbila and Lumwana.
The company is planning to develop solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants in Solwezi and coal-fired thermal plants in Southern Province as part of its expansion strategy.
Kamanga said, in addition to supporting ongoing expansions in North-Western Province, NWEC intends to raise capital to supply electricity to planned housing developments of about 5,000 units each in Lusaka and Eastern Province.
“We are at a point where we believe bringing in new investors and new capital is going to strengthen the company and this listing gives an opportunity to the rest of the Zambians to participate in being a shareholder in North Western Energy Corporation,” Kamanga said in an interview from the Africa’s Energy Conference in South Africa, where NWEC is among the sponsors.
“We’re now moving from being a private company to partially being a public listed company and we think our presence here will help to create rapport with possible investors targeting the Zambian market because we have quite a number of equity investors at the conference who are on the lookout for opportunities and so this gives us that head start as we plan our listing,” he added.
Kamanga said the company’s diversification plans would require a significant injection of new capital. He added that NWEC is in advanced discussions with various developers for partnerships as Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors.
He said the improving economic environment, combined with ongoing energy reforms such as the gradual move toward cost-reflective electricity tariffs, is expected to encourage investment in new power generation projects and help avoid a repeat of the 2025 power crisis that saw rolling blackouts lasting up to 20 hours.
Kamanga also expressed support for government plans to increase copper production to three million metric tonnes by 2033 and raise national power generation capacity to about 10,000 megawatts (MW) from the current 3,909 MW over the same period.
“GDP is up this year, inflation is in single digits now and with the exchange rate equally performing well; these parameters are a good base to prepare for the future and of course we still think the government targets in terms of copper production and the 10,000 megawatts is achievable,” he said.
Kamanga further revealed that NWEC has applied for membership in the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) as it seeks to join other private power traders in the region.
He added that the company is also holding discussions with regional power developers to construct additional transmission lines across Southern Africa to strengthen existing ageing transmission infrastructure.
