Tanesco: Govt owes us 129bn/-

BY GADIOSA LAMTEY

16th January 2014

  Mounts pay or lose power campaign

Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) managing director Felchesmi Mramba briefs journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday on the state of power generation and supply in the country. (Photo: Omar Fungo)

Government institutions on the Mainland and in Zanzibar owed the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) 129bn/- of the 233bn/- debt by the end of last year.

Tanesco Managing Director Felchesmi Mramba told journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday that government institutions owe the utility 129bn/- of which Zanzibar owes 70bn/-.

Individual customers and private institutions owe the firm 104bn/- said Mramba, adding that Tanesco has decided to launch a special campaign to collect the debt.
He called on customers to pay up what they owe or face disconnection.
In 2012 Tanesco cancelled the debt of 50.4bn/- owed by the Zanzibar Electric Company (ZECO).

The cancellation was confirmed by ZECO General manager Hassan Ali Mbarouk who said that the debt was cancelled after his company appealed to the then Minister of Energy and Minerals William Ngeleja that the debt was not legal.
However in ensuring that customers received better services the company has introduced new procurement system where all electrical materials will be available in the regions instead of one centre at the head quarters.

The company has also assured customers who applied for power connections that they will be connected before end of next month as materials have already arrived in country.

“Applications from customers for power connection have risen from 30,000 in 2006 to 143,000 now. “This had never happened in previous years.”

Meanwhile the company will make changes in areas of management to ensure that
every member of staff fulfills his/her obligations for better services to the public.

Mramba attributed the recent power cuts in Dar es Salaam and other regions, to theft of electric cables at the Ubungo substation and Kahama.

He said while the problem had been solved in Dar es Salaam, technicians were still working on the problems in Kahama whose copper wires were stolen, thus causing power cuts in some parts of the town.

Mramba said the company has spent 1.2bn/- to repair the power infrastructure in Kahama. “We call upon Tanzanians to safeguard the power infrastructure and avoid acts that may cause unnecessary loss of power to consumers” he said.

Meanwhile Tanesco warned people who use social media such as twitter account to tarnish its image, adding that it has submitted complaints to Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).

He said Tanesco has only one account known as Tanesco Yetu. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN