The Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) has asked Parliament to intervene over arrears that Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) owes the company.
EGENCO Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Engineer William Liabunya has told the parliamentary cluster on agriculture and food security and natural resources that despite ESCOM being directed to pay the debt, the power supply is yet to settle down the arrears and have since been accumulated to K52 billion.
“This has been the accumulation of the bills that we give to them and Treasury gave targets of what should be paid on the balance of K11 billion and K6 billion by the end of December so even with those arrangement, there are still being accumulation of those arrears and that’s why we are talking of K52 billion,” wondered Engineer Liabunya.
He also disclosed that EGENCO will need funds amounting K23,804,700,000 billion if it is to end its contract with power supplier Aggreko.
“For Aggreko to go out of Malawi and that EGENCO takes over, the operations that are there that’s why the figure estimates of $30 million that for us to get these 70 megawatts that Aggreko is operating as of now, we need that amount of money,” he said.
This follows widespread calls that the Company should terminate its contract with Aggreko saying that it is costing Malawians a raw deal.
Commenting on the development, the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources and Climate Change through its chairperson Welani Chilenga says the country should proceed in terminating the contract with Aggreko citing that it is too expensive.
“What we intend to do as a committee is to sit down with ESCOM, EGENCO and Power Marketing Limited to map the way forward to make sure that what has been happening should not continue happening otherwise we cannot move forward.
“Aggreko is the most expensive in as far power generation is concerned in this country, Aggreko generates the most expensive power, the country cannot sustain this expensive power and we don’t need it,” said Chilenga.
Aggreko supplies 70 megawatts of power to EGENCO which is generated through diesel powered generators.
