Call to cushion SADC poor against high power tariffs

GIVEN CHIKEU
Correspondent | Wednesday June 18, 2008 00:00

The Secretary General of the organ Dr Kasuka Mutukwa told reporters in Lusaka during its recent meeting on the energy crisis gripping the region that abrupt load shedding had a serious impact on the lives of ordinary people in SADC countries.

Mutukwa said while the power shortages were affecting regional economies, it was the poor who suffered the most.'Questions are being asked as to whether this is a man-made crisis or a natural one,' he said. 'There are so many questions about the magnitude and impact as well as questions among stakeholders about their obligations, especially to the poor.'

But the Resident Representative of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Namibia, Hubert Schlesinger, said higher electricity tariffs were unavoidable in order to provide financial injection and incentives for investment in power generation.Schlesinger added that high electricity charges could have beneficial effects on the demand side by bringing about changes in consumption patterns.But he urged utility companies in the SADC region such as the Botswana Power company (BPC), Empresa Nacional  de Electricidade of Angola, Nampower of Namibia, ZESCO of Zambia and Eskom of South Africa to consider the effects of exorbitant electricity tariffs on poor citizens who are already wallowing in abjection due to escalating prices of food.Schlesinger told the meeting that while the 'haves' may cope with the high energy tariffs, the 'have-nots' were struggling to make ends meet due spiralling fuel, transport and global food prices. He advised SADC member states to consider the feasibility of targeted subsidies or differential pricing policies geared at protecting the poor in the SADC region.

SADC's current installed power capacity now stands at 55,032 mega watts (mw) while available capacity is 47,067mw. But dependable capacity is sometimes further reduced to 41,000mw against peak demand of more than 42,000mw as the available energy capacity differs, depending on the season and other constraints.

The Parliamentary Forum was preceded by a meeting of the SADC Council of Ministers that called for the fast-tracking of power projects in the region which are valued at US$ 5billion and can provide a surplus of 6,550 mega watts.

Alluding this call, Zambia's energy minister Kenneth Konga, who also sits on the SADC energy ministers committee, said the region's economies were growing at an unparalleled rate in sectors such as mining, agriculture and tourism, resulting in an unprecedented demand for energy.

'This problem will continue,' he told the meeting, 'therefore, it is important (that) our region urgently address the power deficit.'
(Sila Press Agency)