Power outages hit commercial banks—BAM
The Bankers Association of Malawi (BAM) has decried persistent power outages, which it says are increasing the cost of doing business.
BAM executive director, Lyness Nkungula, while acknowledging the problem of erratic power supplies, said using generators is costly to the banking industry.
power ATMs such as this one
She said: “Erratic power supply is costly to the banking business. Some banking services and systems run for 24 hours.
“This means that banks have to use generators and fuel is not cheap in Malawi. Banks have invested a lot in heavy duty generators to make sure that customers are served at all times. Running on generators increases the cost of production.”
Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) executive director John Kapito, in an interview on Monday, said: “We are finding this to be more disrupting as we are being inconvenienced.
“What is more surprising is that despite being well aware of the current electricity challenges, commercial banks are not coming forth to put up infrastructure that should support their customers nationwide.”
He faulted commercial banks for prioritising other areas when installing generators, saying semi-urban and rural areas are being left out.
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) is currently implementing extensive load shedding due to what the parastatal claims is low water levels in Shire River, the main source of hydropower generation.
