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Minister of Energy, Peter Kapala, has announced that despite the significant power shortage in the country, hospitals, clinics and water utilities have been exempted from load shedding.
Kapala assured the Speaker of the National Assembly that ZESCO was adhering to the Presidential directive to ensure that strategic institutions were not affected by load shedding.
The Minister made these remarks in response to a question raised by Member of Parliament for Shiwang’andu Constituency, Stephen Kampyongo, regarding whether hospitals and other important institutions were experiencing load shedding as indicated in the schedule.
“A decision on May 20, 2024, was made to extend the daily hours of load shedding from eight hours to 12 hours to ensure that power supply is available until the end of the year and to prevent damage to the power generating machines due to insufficient water levels,” he stated.
Kapala mentioned that in implementing the load shedding program, ZESCO was directed to consider the vital role played by strategic institutions such as health facilities, water utilities, industry and mining firms, as well as security wings.
“Therefore, these critical institutions and establishments have been exempted from load management by providing electricity on a twenty-four-hour basis,” he pointed out.
He added that 122 megawatts were exempted for institutions, with hospitals taking up 42 megawatts, water utilities 38 megawatts, and security wings 42 megawatts.
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