Escom says it is putting forward long term mitigation measures, one of them being the cross-border Malawi-Mozambique interconnection project of which it said is progressing well.

The board also said feasibility studies and detailed design is underway and will be completed in June this year.

According to Escom, financing arrangements for the construction phase are expected to be completed in early 2018 to allow implementation to start towards the end of 2018 and be completed in 2021.

Escom also said that it is receiving an average power of 190MW from the newly established Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO).

But to make sure that the power is distributed to many people, Escom has also put forward short term mitigation measures as they are distributing free LED bulbs, an exercise  which will be completed by the end of march,2017.

So far, 250,000 bulbs have been installed in homes translating to a saving of 10.5MW.

The remaining LED bulbs will be sold at a subsidised price and the electricity supplier expects to conclude the sales by September end and make a saving of 15MW.

It also said that the total saving from the projects is 40MW which is enough to be used in the whole of the northern region.

Escom was unbundled on 1st January, 2017 by carving out the generation function in order to pave way for more players to join the industry in electricity generation.

The restructured Escom has two additional functions of system and market operator and single buyer.

The new mandate of Escom is to transmit, distribute and retail electricity in Malawi. It may also retail electricity to neighbouring countries.