Government hands over single buyer licence to ESCOM

Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (MERA) has handed over a single buyer licence from a dissolved Power Market Limited (PML) to Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM).

Speaking during the official handover ceremony in Lilongwe on Wednesday, Minister of Energy, Ibrahim Matola alongside Head of Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) Dr Janet Banda, Attorney General, Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda, and officials from Mera and Escom, said the handover is in line with government’s policy to ensure the provision of sustainable and affordable energy in Malawi.

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“This milestone marks significant step forward in the government’s efforts to transform the power sector, fostering investment opportunities and ensuring a reliable supply of electricity for the people of Malawi,” he said.

With the retransfer of the licence, he said, Escom now has the full mandate to perform the functions and duties of the single buyer licence.

Matola lamentated that whilst the establishment of PML which among other things was meant to promote economic growth through increased private investment but little has been realized to that effect apart from the increased overhead costs.

Escom Chief Opererations Officer, Maxwell Mulimakwenda said as Escom has been honoured and entrusted once again with the responsibility of a single buyer licence they will work diligently with government and all stakeholders in the energy sector.

” We want to assure Malawians that the decisions we make and processes undertaken are with due diligence and also with speed,” he said.

However, in 2018, government established PML to carry out the single buyer functions, a role Escom was previously executing. 

Come in 2020, government reviewed the functions of PML and decided to dissolve guided by the electricity amendment act of 2016.