By Jane Chanda
Private Sector Development Association (PSDA) chairman Yusuf Dodia says Zambia’s Electricity Open Access policy poses a significant security risk to the country.
Last week, minister of Energy Makozo Chikote launched the Electricity Open Access framework, a move expected to increase competition in the power sector by allowing large consumers to purchase electricity directly from independent power producers.
Reacting to this development in an interview with Daily Revelation yesterday, Dodia noted that the policy allowed private producers to export electricity to neighboring countries, potentially leaving Zambia vulnerable to power shortages.
According to Dodia, this could lead to a situation where electricity generated in Zambia would be supplied to other countries instead of meeting local demand.
The chairman said Zambia’s reliance on private producers for electricity generation made the country susceptible to the pressures of commerce and industry.
He pointed out that private producers would naturally sell to the highest bidder, which may not necessarily be Zambia.
“The electricity suppliers will sell to the highest bidder, and that leaves Zambia very vulnerable,” Dodia said.
He further explained that the policy may work well in developed economies with abundant power sources but was not suitable for developing economies like Zambia.
Dodia expressed concern that Zambia may end up buying electricity at high tariffs from private investors that prioritised profits over the country’s needs.
“I think as a nation, we need to be very careful. It appears that we spend most of our time copying systems from western countries, which either have not worked or were designed to undermine developing economies,” Dodia said.
He also highlighted the need for Zambia to carefully assess the impact of adopting policies from other countries to ensure they benefited the local economy, emphasising that the country should prioritise its own economic interests and development goals.
“You may think one of the weaknesses we have as Zambia is that we are not accessing the impact of some of these policies we adopt from other countries to see if they are useful to our economy and see if they support the building of our economy,” said Dodia.
