By Staff Writer
Energy Expert Johnstone Chikwanda has backed power utility company ZESCO Limited’s application to the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) for an upward revision of connection fees for standard connection.
Mr Chikwanda said that for some years now, Zambia has not had any hikes in connection fees while prices of connection materials such as wires, conductors and the exchange rate among others have significantly risen.
He said that failure to fairly respond to ZESCO’S request will worsen the impact on the company and that the backlog of customers waiting to be connected will grow further.
Mr Chikwanda said that Small and Medium Enterprises in the country will also be impacted negatively if connection fees are not adjusted as they make up the number of those on the waiting list.
ZESCO recently applied to the ERB to revise connection fees for standard connections for three customer categories saying it has had challenges to promptly connect new applicants for electricity resulting in a backlog in new connections of 67,000 as at 31st December 2021.
