By Daniel Itai.
Lusaka, Zambia (News of The South) – State owned electricity entity, Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (Zesco) has announced that it will hike the price of electricity for residential and commercial customers with effect from January 2020.
Zambia’s Energy Regulation Board said it had allowed Zesco to increase electricity tariffs by more than 200 percent.
The price of electricity for many customers will nearly double, the energy regulator said, adding that Zesco needed revenue to cover its operating costs.
Leader of Zambia’s main opposition political party, the United Party for National Development (UNDP), Hakainde Hichilema blamed the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) for being corrupt and reckless.
“The corrupt and visionless PF think they will fix Zesco by raising tariffs. No, first, remove all the PF cadres on the payroll, replacing them with qualified professionals.
Raising tariffs is not the answer. Zesco’s failure is a result of the following, insolvency, corruption, bloated workforce, bloated expenditure, cadres on payroll and politically appointed management,” said Hichilema.
The new measure will not affect global mining firms which include First Quantum Minerals, Glencore, Barrick Gold Corp and Vedanta Resources which currently pay a flat tariff of 9.30 US cents/ kilowatt hour (kWh).
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