Africa-Press – Zambia. In the last decade of UNIP, 1981–1991, I went from 11 to 21 years old. I saw firsthand queues for bread at the then Kabulonga Supermarket (building opposite Centro Mall). On our way from school at Lusaka Girls, we also witnessed queues often for sugar, soap, mealie meal, and cooking oil at the building below Hot FM Radio in Longacres, which was known as Mwaiseni Stores back then. Even as a child, the irony was not lost on me because Mwaiseni translates as welcome in Bemba.
Mwaiseni Stores was part of ZIMCO, a group of government companies where my father worked.
Most conversations among adults back then were always about essential commodity shortages. The lucky ones were those with relatives in Zambia Airways and on government trips. They sometimes had apples, chocolates, Coca-Cola, and butter.
There were no dollars to import the above as the government said they were reserved only for critical sectors such as health and fuel and other very essential imported items.
The population was less than eight million by 1991, with electricity consumption peaking in 1988 at 1083kWh per person. However, by 1991, the stress of population growth and increased economic activity began to show, and kWh consumption per person dropped to just over 700. We have not done much better since, with less than 1040kWh per person in 2023. For comparison, WB reports show that wealthy countries are at close to 10,000kWh per person in electricity consumption.
Recently, ZESCO announced that it has connected over 200 megawatts to new housing since 2021. That is equivalent to over a million incandescent bulbs and more, if I am not mistaken.
On the other hand, industries that require power in agriculture, mines, manufacturing, and services have grown by quantum leaps.
And if that was not putting enough stress on an already overstretched electricity infrastructure, new internet media technology such as mobile phones, laptops, iPads, PlayStations, and other gadgets in hospitals, schools, and the service sector, etc., have made electricity demand for both personal and business use even worse.
What was once a class identity, ‘ku mayard kuli malaiti’ (standardized spelling), has now become an essential commodity for all citizens, whether in urban or rural areas, as well as in all businesses from the small salon which once used charcoal to heat the hot comb to straighten hair and boiled water for shampoo and set pa mbaula (often left italicized or in quotes for non-local readers), to bakeries, mobile money and other ICT businesses, processing firms, and the final elephant in the room, the mines.
We have no load management—just electricity shortages. It is an essential commodity in high demand, and supply is not meeting demand.
The problem is that now it is difficult to differentiate household needs from industry due to the growth of the service sector supported by the ICT platforms. There are many small businesses doing business with only their phone. As such, power is needed by both big and small businesses.
What can be done?
Since 2015, households have been advised to seriously consider self-supply through solar, generators, and inverters. However, it took a while for most people to believe demand for this essential commodity was growing much faster every day compared to supply.
I recall visiting my cousin in Six Miles in 2014, and he already had solar. At that point, I wondered why he chose to live so far away from ZESCO lines. Well, the rest is history because most houses now, no matter where they are located in Zambia, have a mixed supply, including mine.
The shortage has nothing to do with exports. Apart from a few firm exports, such as 40 MW in 2015 to Namibia, most power can only be exported when load demand has eased through the Southern Power Pool. At least, that was always my understanding.
The challenge has always been the high demand during peak times, which in today’s economy with popular businesses such as bars and restaurants, and need for many household gadgets needing power all day, there are very few non-peak hours remaining in a day and night.
We have a shortage of an essential commodity: electricity.
While households must continue with mixed supply, ingenuity in financing solar panels, inverters, and even generators is needed. Added to this is the cost of fuel, which at all costs (no pun intended) must be addressed as an essential commodity, too, in terms of pricing. We need cheap fuel to grow the economy.
Back to electricity.
We all agree there is a shortage. This means a solution must be the number one priority.
The government would do well to lay out a comprehensive plan for investment in base load—hydro and coal—which must be shared with citizens, with specific timelines, costs, and investors, so that we can all appreciate its efforts, and when the problem will be alleviated in the medium and long term.
It is this lack of clear information on solutions that is causing anxiety in the nation.
There is currently no essential commodity problem as crucial as this one. It is time to implement over capacity in electricity generation.
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