The United Party for National Development – UPND Energy Chairperson Charles Kaisala says Zambia is a member of the Southern Power Pool, this is why it is exporting electricity in order to help other countries that are in a crisis.
Mr Kaisala said that it is a norm for members of the Southern Power Pool with excess electricity to extend help to those facing a crisis.
He however noted that the UPND government understands the energy sector and it is working on reducing loadshedding in the country.
“Loadsheding is a supply and demand kind of situation, where we have a high demand and the supply or generation capacity has been impaired because of the low water levels at the Kariba Dam,” he said
Mr Kaisala said that basically to not lose the entire national grid through tripping or losing the wall, load management is done where certain points and to avoid going into a catastrophic situation where the entire grid is lost.
“When you lose the whole grid it will take you about a week to restore it because you just cant switch on like any other situation, there are processes that go on at the power station when operating these machines,” he said
“The situation we are in, is not a normal situation, it is because the water levels have dropped beyond reasonable doubt, if you go to Kariba Dam right now, there is an island in the Dam which means that the water levels are very low, our colleagues across in Zimbabwe there are even in a more situation,” he said
“The situation we are in right now from the independent power producers we have Mamba Collories, they supply the national grid with 300 megawatts of power that is coal-powered, and thye had a scheduled maintenance of one machine, the machines ther are two because they generate power at 150 megawatts each, of which they have taken out that machine because maintainencce is very cardinal, and you cant be handling these machines without maintainence because they will just give us and then lose the whole power station,” he added
Mr Kaisala mentioned that when the UPND took over office they had a lot of challenges in both the electricity and petroleum sector and based on thier manifesto which they drive their policy on energy, adding that their manifesto looks at creating conditions for the provision of safe, reliable, eficient, cost-reflective and environmentally appropriate energy services to all sectors on the sustainable basis, he mmentioned that this statement summarises there policy on the energy sector.
He stated that on the electricity sub sector, with ZESCO being the main player, the UPND Government came up with policies especially on the energy mix as the country is heavily dependent on hydro generation concentrated on the Southern part of the country, where there are power stations on the Zambezi river and the Kafue river.
He added that over the years, there has been some challenges on both the Zambezi river and Kafue river, which has led to having challenges with the generation capacity from these power stations because of the climate change effects, where the rainfall patterns have gone from normal to abnormal, which has necessitated to having terminal load shedding in the country.
“As a Party we came up with a policy direction of having generation mix that is in the way power is generated not concentrating on hydro but also have other forms of energy such as solar, wind, biomass etc,” he said
Meanwhile, Mr Kasaila mentioned that in the petroleum sector there were two ways to get the product, one thorugh Indeni in Ndola and also through the oil marketing companies which bring in finished products, when the UPND took office Indeni was not operational since 2020, as a Party they took an option of immediate solution on Indeni by having the model changed to that of an oil marketing company to enable Indeni to continue being relevant in the petroleum market in the country, the process has been initiated and its on going.
I bet you don’t even know the Genesis of this debacle. After you are out of power is when you will start pointing fingers ati: He signed the deal without consulting us.
Who signed the deal? Tell us so we all know
@Kulibonesha are you new in Rome?
The more you try to justify load shedding the more silly you sound. So the president did not know all this when he said he has ended load shedding in 9 month of being in office. What investment has UPND put in power generation?
Imagine.
Ati UPND energy fimofimo!
Doesn’t he sound like an !d!0t?
As old as the creation of the Dam in Northern Rhodesia
Mr Kaisala said that it is a norm for members of the Southern Power Pool with excess electricity to extend help to those facing a crisis.
Excess under new goverment of one party alliance means introduction of loadshedding”, remeber the statement, “Watch my lips”.This is what it means.
You have said nothing sir. If you don’t have any tangible reassuring explanation over this electricity crises, simply keep quiet
Low water levels at Kariba is the story most Zambians do not want to buy. In the middle of a good rainy season! Tell us something else. Senior managers at ZESCO should resign or be shown the exit door. You lied to the whole nation, including the Presidency. For your own information loadshedding is one of the major factors that made us kick PF out of power. The 1.8m are busy mocking us left, right and centre.
Including the ones who voted for Upnd are mocking you.
UPND Energy Chairperson Charles Kaisala says Zambia is a member of the Southern Power Pool, this is why it is exporting electricity in order to help other countries that are in a crisis. What are you talking about? Exporting when they have been issues with the same mu zambia. Nothing makes sense in your statement. You do not export in order to help when you are being paid for that. Are you crazy it is about money in your pockets iwe Kaisala
UPND will always justify anything for as long it is done by UPND….Getting more Kaloba is ok for as long as it’s done by UPND…poverty is ok for as long as it is under UPND…with this mentality we will never develop Zambia
Ba boss ba hh elyo batubwesesha amalit from 01 hrs to 20:57 hrs Thank you boss you are doing a recommendeble job; 2026 ni pa fupi lala ufwe tepatali
We are now being forced to make love to our wlves in the dark, any yet their hh promised to end load shedding. This is unacceptable useless upnd incompetent government! Fuseke!
It is probably a blessing for this man’s wife to make love to him in darkness, mubi uyu haha
Mr. Kaisala Sir, you will look and sound a lot more relevant and intelligent with your mouth shut
This fella is NOT qualified to sit on the ZESCO Board and is therefore not qualified to issue statements
In developed countries HH should have been forced to resign….together with all his incompetent Ministers
Give us an example of that developed country and the situation that led to the resignation of the Party. And Zambian is NOT a developed country, still learning. Putin would never resign, and Russia is more developed country compared to Zambia.
Explanation given by this guy is indeed wird, if there is “excess electricity to extend help to those facing a crisis”, then why should you be implementing loadshedding ? I would understand if the clarified was that exporting to neighboring countries in order to honor the long-term contracts. just as HH explained during his press conference.
I don’t think Zambians want to hear the explanations such as “the water levels have dropped beyond reasonable doubt….”, because that is what they have been listening to in the past 10 years. This explanation is nothing new. The key message is WHAT HAS UPND DONE TO AVOID this? I hope the same nonsense will NOT be the case NEXT year.
Ati we are exporting electricity to help other countries that are in a crisis.
Would you rather starve your children whilst donating food to your neighbour so that he feeds his children?
Ati “…our colleagues across in Zimbabwe there are even in a more situation,” he said.
I don’t know whether to be upset or to laugh, but I think the urge to laugh is stronger. The water level has dropped beyond reasonable doubt. Kkkk.
Ati 2023 is to unlock the economy.. bla bla bla
Dear Sir, WE ARE THE ONES IN A CRISIS.
In life saving basics, you save yourself first. You will then be capable of saving others.
If you foolishly kill yourself while trying to save others, all will perish.
Dear Mr president, maybe we got you wrong. When you spoke of unlocking the economy in 2023, were you talking about the economy of Botswana and Namibia??? Maybe we were seated in the wrong audience?
Quoute: “Mr Kaisala said that it is a norm for members of the Southern Power Pool with excess electricity to extend help to those facing a crisis.”
So we export the excess electricity that we have generated in Zambia to Namibia and create a power crisis in Zambia? This type of reasoning is mind-boggling!
Please ignore and forgive the idi0t
watoloka imisu wanyanta pa Mafi ya diarrhea
Indeed the explanation cant even hold the low water level at Kariba (pun intended).
Sir, leave it to ENGINEER Peter Kapala the Energy Minister who since advised export cuts because the low water levels was unforseen at the time contracting te export deals.
In that case sir, a contract or MOU invokes whats called Force Majeure clause.
Sir, we are also in a crisis notwithstanding the level or stage.
I agree with Kaizar Zulu this time. This a crime against humanity. After vacating office all these culprits must face criminal charges. You cannot export electricity while ordinary Zambians are suffering. While the same leaders have enough stollen money to buy powerful generators to ensure themselves with 24 hour energy.