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ZESCO is set to start its planned rotational Load Shedding exercise on Tuesday as water levels in Kariba Reservoir hit critically low levels.
The company is set to commence its Load Shedding programme on Tuesday 3rd to 25th January 2023.
ZESCO indicated that it had experienced a drastic reduction in available water for electricity generation at Kariba North Bank Power Station due to critically reduced water levels in the Kariba reservoir.
This is contained in a statement issued by ZESCO Corporate Affairs Department in Lusaka on Monday.
“As at 31 December 2022, the water level was at 475.60 meters above sea level, a situation that has necessitated the reduction of generation at the 1080 megawatts (MW) Power Station facility to below 400MW, and thereby affecting the ability to meet the system load/customer power demand, especially during morning and evening peak demand periods,” ZESCO stated.
It indicated that this inability to meet the power demand would further be compounded by the planned outage of a 150MW Generator at Maamba Collieries Limited Power Plant for routine annual maintenance scheduled to take place from the January 4th to the 20th, 2023.
It stated that the compounded generator outage at Maamba Coal Thermal Power Plant coupled with the critical low water level at Kariba reservoir would lead to ZESCO carrying out a rotational Load Shedding exercise which will now commence on Tuesday, 3rd to 25th January 2023.
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“To mitigate the effects of Load Shedding, ZESCO will endeavour to optimise electricity generation at all other power generating stations to the extent that the integrity and safety of the power system is safeguarded.
“ZESCO will continuously notify its customers and the public on the power availability status through various electronic and print media houses,” the company stated.
The power utility company has therefore encouraged customers to look out for Load Shedding schedules in the press and the company website once published.
As a safety precaution, customers have been advised to treat all power supply lines to be live, as power may be restored before the scheduled time.
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