Consumers up in arms over irregular electricity supply
A student studies by candlelight following an unannounced power cut. Consumers are having to contend with erratic power supply even after tariffs were raised by 40 per cent recently. PHOTO | FILE
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Moreover, the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) has not come forward to explain the nature of the problem or even when a solution to the problem would be found.
Dar es Salaam. For over a week, power supply in sections of Dar es Salaam City has been highly erratic giving the impression that there is an unannounced load shedding.
Moreover, the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) has not come forward to explain the nature of the problem or even when a solution to the problem would be found.
A survey by The Citizen showed that supply has been intermittent with prolonged, unannounced blackouts that cause significant losses to manufacturers, businesses, institutions and domestic consumers alike.
This comes just three weeks since Tanesco hiked power tariffs by 40 per cent on the rationale -- which was endorsed by the Energy and Water Utility Regulatory Authority (Ewura) -- of enabling it to meet increasing operational costs.
Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) Policy and Advocacy director Hussein Kamote, said the sudden power blackouts negatively impact on delicate electric machines installed in factories.
He said it would be prudent for Tanesco to place public announcements about forthcoming power cuts in advance so consumers would switch off their machines to evade damages as much as possible.
“They (Tanesco) had promised that there would no longer be power cuts once tariffs are raised ... it’s time they give us value for the money we pay them,” Mr Kamote said.
He said that results of a study they (CTI) conducted showed that erratic power supply costs the manufacturing sector a whooping Sh31 billion annually.
The report titled “Challenges of Unreliable Electricity Power Supply to Manufacturers in Tanzania” says intermittent power supply is a big problem in the country and has been one of the reasons for higher costs of doing business in the country.
“Each manufacturing firm loses 24 working-hours of labour and 7,341 jobs are lost annually owing to electricity problems in manufacturing firms, greatly reducing productivity and undermining competitiveness,” the report reads in part.
But also the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) loses about Sh9.5 billion annually due to power blackouts alone in the manufacturing sector, the report said.
Reached for comment, Tanesco’s acting Public Relations manager Adrian Severin said there is no power rationing in Dar es Salaam or any other part of the country.
He said the only problem that he is aware of is the emergency shutdown of a 132kV Ubungo line on Sunday night, which caused power cuts in Makumbusho.
“There was one high tension line which was about to break at Bamaga. This affected Mikocheni, Mwananyamala, Kinondoni, Masaki, Oysterbay, Kijitonyama and Sinza for about four hours.
“At Kigamboni Vijibweni near Mihan Gas, a high tension pole caught fire resulting in switch off of power to the area to ensure safety,” Mr Adrian said.
The erratic supply started happening soon after Tanesco said it had fixed a breakdown at a substation at its Ubungo Power Station.
Tanesco’s acting managing director Sophia Mgonja had said that the breakdown was caused by theft of key materials from the sub-station leading to a fire that halted power supply.
“We discovered that a fire that erupted at the power station at Ubungo on Saturday was due to some missing cables, that had presumably been stolen. But the problem has already been fixed,” she said.
She had pledged that power supply would be stabilised. This pledge has been had to fulfil as supply has remained erratic, thus affecting badly consumers.
Power was back late on Sunday to some sections of the city that had been plunged into darkness in the weekend because of a serious breakdown at the Ubungo sub-station.
