In 2009 or thereabouts, courtesy of the performance of the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom), Malawi earned itself an unenviable feat of having the worst reliability record in terms of power supply.

That time, the country had an equivalent of 63 days of power outages in a year of 365 days, which was described as the worst reliability record of the 24 sub-Sahara African countries surveyed, according to a report by the Millennium Challenge Account-Malawi (MCA-M).

It is a fact that in this beautiful land of ours hardly a day passes without a power outage.

Due to Escom’s poor electricity supply record over the years, some consumers have been tempted to call the customer call centre (if at all it exists) or faults section of the sole power supplier to “report a fault” on rare occasions when there is power all day, every day.

In fact, a couple of years ago Escom was forced by the Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) to change its pay-off line or brand promise from ‘Power All Day, Every Day’ to the present one: ‘Towards Power All Day, Every Day’.

Erratic electricity supply is one of the main obstacles to doing business in Malawi, according to separate business climate surveys by the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) and the World Bank.

Unreliable power supply has increased the cost of doing business in Malawi as existing companies are forced to engage in non-core businesses such as investing in alternative power generation through standby generators that run on diesel. The companies pass on the otherwise avoidable extra costs to consumers.

On the other hand, new investors think twice before making a move to this corner of the world.

Currently, due to unreliable power supply, the country is losing out on the potential to grow the economy. For example, investors in the mining sector need more energy to operate. Paladin Africa Limited’s Kayelekera Uranium Mine in Karonga requires a continuous 10 megawatts (MW) for uranium mining and processing which Escom is not providing. Globe Metals, currently exploring at Kanyika in Mzimba would need 20MW for mineral sands mining and processing. Meanwhile, Escom’s current installed capacity is 282MW. The country needs an extra 200MW to cover the mining and production sectors.

What is the problem? Who is to blame? What is being done to improve the situation?

Personally, I do not believe Escom is solely to blame for the problems of power outages or unreliable supply.

Why? In March 2010, I was privileged to attend a presentation to the media on the United States of America (USA)-funded $350.7 million (about K126.3 billion) Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) energy grant to revitalise Malawi’s energy sector.

In the course of the presentation organised by MCA-M, I recall one official arguing that half of the problems facing Escom, and possibly several other State-owned enterprises and utility firms, are political with 20 percent being linked to management shortfalls. The remainder is made up of a cocktail of several factors, including general system inefficiencies.

Political influence in Escom is visible through the appointment by the president of the parastatal’s board of directors and some of the past chief executive officers (CEOs). The mere involvement of the head of State or officers delegated by him/her has a bearing on an institution’s governance and independence in making decisions. At least the current CEO John Kandulu is not a political appointee, so to speak, as he went through comprehensive recruitment interviews and is a technocrat with the ability to turnaround the utility firm.

Much as the MCC grant may not necessarily directly address political interference in Escom, its principles emphasises good governance by beneficiary countries. In this regard, I felt relieved on Friday to learn that finally, governments of the USA and Malawi have exchanged letters of Entry into Force of the MCC grant to last five years and rehabilitate Nkula Hydro Power Station.

Objectives of the project include improving availability of reliable and quality power supply and increasing access to electricity to the un-served customers in urban and rural areas (currently, about 10 households out of every 100 in Malawi’s estimated 14 million population have access to electricity). The project also seeks to improve effective management of the power sector for improved service delivery.

I can’t wait for the day these objectives will be realised!