BPC reaches breaking point
Friday, February 26, 2010
The parastatal has forwarded its request for a tariff increase to the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources which has reportedly tabled it in Cabinet. A decision on the request is expected soon.
Electricity tariffs were last reviewed in January 2008. Since then, BPC has struggled with a spike in the cost of imported power, higher materials charges, the global recession and its plethora of effects as well as lost revenues arising from its load shedding programme.Recently the ministry's Permanent Secretary, Gabaake Gabaake, characterised BPC as "broke," while its Chief Executive Officer, Jacob Raleru, painted a similarly gloomy and desperate picture of the power utility in an interview with Business Week this week.
The recent disclosure by the IEC that 2,513 registrations have been turned down due to various irregularities should prompt all Batswana to meticulously review the voters' rolls and address concerns about rejected registrations.The disparities flagged by the IEC are troubling and emphasise the significance of rigorous voter registration processes.Out of the rejected registrations, 29 individuals were disqualified due to non-existent Omang...