Zambia’s Power Utility Company has attributed the increased hours of load shedding in the country to an increase in power deficit from 700 megawatts to 872 megawatts.
ZESCO Public Relations Manager Hazel Zulu says her organisation will adjust power supply as it is dictated by demand and supply.
Ms. Zulu has advised its customers to employ alternative energy efficient initiatives to reduce demand.
She says in a statement that “this has led to prolonged load shedding resulting in customers experiencing longer load shedding periods of more than 15 hours per day.”
The Statement adds that “ZESCO has continued to control and monitor the balance between the demand and supply of electricity and will adjust accordingly as conditions dictate.”
Meanwhile the Power Utility Company ZESCO limited has revealed that operational costs for the company have increased from 2.2 billion Kwacha in 2013 to 13 billion Kwacha in 2018.
ZESCO Managing Director Patrick Mwila says this represent about 600% increase while revenue costs have only increased by 300% for the same period.
Mr. Mwila has attributed the increase in operational costs to an increase in the cost of servers and in operating costs.