OVER $480 million was generated from power exports to the Southern Africa Power Pool between 2018 and 2021, Government has revealed.
Infrastructure and Urban Development Minister Charles Milupi who is acting Minister for Energy told parliament on Wednesday that all the electricity exports to the neighbouring countries were cost reflective which meant that Zesco did not make any loss from the transactions.
He admitted that Zesco is still exporting power to some neighboring countries because the national power utility has some contractual obligations but however, assured the nation that the exports will not affect the local demand for electricity.
Mr Milupi also said the load shedding has ended in the country because of the improvement in water levels at the Kariba North Bank Power Station (KNBPS), where he said the generation of power has now gone up to 350 megawatts. Mr Milupi also attributed the end of load shedding to other measures the new dawn administration has put in place.
He said President Hakainde Hichilema took personals effort to ensure that the issue of loadshedding came to an end by coordinating all agencies of government to make sure a solution was found.
Mr Milupi said looking at the good rainfall in Western, North-Western provinces, and in Angola, it is anticipated that this year, the water levels at Kariba Dam is going to be higher than last year.
Meanwhile, Shiwang’andu Member of Parliament Stephen Kampyongo challenged the new dawn administration to give credit to the PF administration for investing in massive power generation.
He said the 2, 300 magawatts the new administration is singing about was left by the PF government.
“It’s very interesting to hear the acting minister talk about ending loadshedding without speaking to the number of megawatts they have added to the grid because the 2, 300 magawatts is talking about is what they inherited,” he said.
