Chief Executive Office for Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) Collins Magalasi said using of Electricity Generation Company (EGENCO) geneset is expensive compared to ESCOM generators.

Magalasi disclosed this in Blantyre during the press briefing held at Malawi Sun Hotel to brief media on the development of energy sector.

He observed that the more hours the company operates the geneset the more the cost.

“We run generators for only six hours only per day because if we can operate for 12 hours we can pay more money on buying fuel. Each 6 hours we use 43000 litters of diesel and if we run for 12 hours who will pay the additional sum of money,” he said.

Commenting on the blackout which the country is facing currently, Magalasi said there is such challenge because of the high demand by customers especially companies and Electricity needs 54 additional megawatts to meet the customers demand.

Meanwhile MERA has hiked fuel pump prices effective July 17, 2018.