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The business community has urged Zesco Limited to come up with a comprehensive load shedding plan to effectively prepare for the planned six-hour power cuts.
Peter Kapala, Zambia Energy Minister, announced last month in Parliament recently that Zesco will commence load shedding on December15, 2022 due to the low water levels in the Kariba dam.
Kapala told Parliament that water levels in Kariba dam have been reducing on account of low inflows from the Zambezi River and over utilisation of water to sustain power generation has also worsened the situation.
The load management will be undertaken for a period of four months aimed at rationing water in the dam in order to avoid a complete shutdown.
Kitwe Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KDCCI) president Emmanuel Mbambiko said a comprehensive schedule should be made available to stakeholders to help them plan.
“We need a comprehensive schedule for us to plan effectively for the inevitable, Zesco should just do that to save the industry from collapsing,” Mbambiko said.
He said in an interview in Kitwe on Wednesday, December 14, 2022 that peak periods like morning time when households were not using much power could be used to power industries.
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Mbambiko said the planned six-hour a day load shedding would hurt industries if the schedule was not well planned hence the need for a more comprehensive schedule.
He said businesses would have no option but to change shifts to enable them to continue in production and he did not rule out night shifts.
Mbambiko appealed to Zesco not to temper with security lighting so that businesses find it easy to operate during night time.
“We hope that Zesco will not be switching security lights during the period of load shedding so that those working during night time do not feel insecure during night shifts,” he said.
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