By Jane Chanda
Zesco acting managing director Justin Loongo says the 7-hours power supply to customers will resume once the connection to the Zimbabwean grid is restored.
And Zesco has linked last night black out was which occured nationwide to ongoing maintenance on the Victoria Falls 220 kilovolt (KV)transmission line, which also affected Zimbabwe due to the interconnected nature of the two countries’ power grids.
But Zesco could not state the exact cause of the disruption that triggered the outage, saying the utility company was working diligently to investigate and determine the root cause of the incident.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lusaka, Loongo assured that the company was working tirelessly to stabilise the system to minimise inconvenience.
Loongo said prior to the disturbance, power rationing had been reduced to between five and six hours, with plans to normalise to seven hours once the connection to the Zimbabwean grid was fully restored.
“We are confident that once the connection to the Zimbabwean grid is fully restored, we will be able to normalise power rationing to seven hours,” Loongo said.
He added that Zesco was working to prevent similar incidencies in the future.
“We are committed to providing reliable and efficient electricity services to our customers, and we are taking concrete steps to strengthen our grid and improve our response to any future disruptions,” said Loongo.
Energy permanent secretary Peter Mumba said the blackout resulted from a system disturbance in the interconnected networks of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Mumba commended the collaborative efforts of energy companies and expressed gratitude to the public for their patience during the restoration process.
He also highlighted the successful rescue of miners trapped underground in Chambishi and Mufulira, by alternative power supplies provided to the mines.
Mumba added that the successful restoration of power was a result of the collaborative efforts of energy companies and the government.
He commended the public for their patience and understanding during the restoration process, which was a challenging but ultimately successful effort.
Ministry of Information and Media permanent secretary Thabo Kawana announced that the power outage had been fully resolved, with no lives lost due to the same.
Kawana attributed this to the government’s prior directive for all institutions to maintain alternative power systems.
He noted that the rapid restoration of power at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) within 30 minutes was a testament to the preparedness of Zambia’s health sector.
“This swift restoration of power at UTH demonstrates the effectiveness of our contingency plans and the dedication of our healthcare teams in ensuring uninterrupted service delivery,” said Kawana.
He said the emergency systems in medical facilities, including Zambia’s largest hospital, UTH, were fully operational during the outage.
