Tanesco: Six decades of finding its way in lighting up the nation

Business journalist

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Some observers say it is ironic that, 60 years after political independence, the government would still be seeking basic organisational changes for Tanesco to operate efficiently

The analyst noted that the concerns of those who think that Tanesco is beyond repair should be seriously considered by the government. “Splitting the power utility into three entities - generation, transmission and supply - was an idea that was floated a long time ago. Every keen watcher of energy affairs feels that you can’t start thinking of reviving Tanesco in its current organisational set-up,” he said. He added that dividing Tanesco into three parts can also facilitate the entry of private operators to supplement the government’s efforts to invest in issues such as power generation in the country. This is because as a public utility, under a government ministry Tanesco can’t avoid being political and by extension inefficient, the analyst argues. He quips that Tanesco’s monopoly and lack of fear to make losses is the main hindrance to the entrance of private players in the electricity sub-sector as it will stifle competition.

In 1964, three years after independence, the government bought all the shares from the two private companies and merged them into a single utility under the Tanganyika Electric Supply Company Ltd. In 1968, the company changed its name to the Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited, as it is known today, according to the Tanesco Corporate Plan 2016-2017. Despite its good performance in urban areas during Tanzania’s golden years of 1970s the power utility, now running as a parastatal organization, increasingly failed to meet new demands and to electrify rural areas and periphery regions. According to Tanesco’s own self-assessment published in the company’s corporate plan its performance started deteriorating in the 1980s “and has remained poor ever since.” It was the poor performance that made the government succumb to pressure by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to privatize Tanesco.

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Tanesco: Six decades of finding its way in lighting up the nation

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